Does this fall into the parameters of what you were looking for
Geoff - the possibility of paying someone to extend the SDUMP
system.
Of course, a small(ish) job, but one that could be incoporated into
a lot of
programs. Perhaps we should start thinking of what sort of routines
we would
like if someone were to write a new DIY toolkit.
Umm, I don't think sdump_rext itself could (or should) be incorporated
into software, for one thing programs would always be stuck with the
version built in even if copyright etc allowed it. But if an enhanced
version were available, whether freely or sold as an upgrade file, I'm
sure many authors like myself would venture more into producing
graphics programs if the screen dumps were there rather than having to
write our own - screen dump writing effort could then be concentrated
into specialist efforts such as minority printers, one could only
expect sdump to support HP and Canon printers over and above the
existing selection I'd have thought.
Another possibility would be to pay someone to update EasyPtr.
I doubt this, there's already been correspondence on this and I think
the view might be that it would be too difficult for anyone other than
the original author to update, plus TurboPTR is both available, up to
date and supported and now has a degree of possibility of conversionof
Easyptr files.
This gives me yet another idea. What about Quanta trying to obtain
the
rights of some old software that is still extensively used? The two
that
spring to mind are QLiberator and Text87. Anyone with suggestions
for other
programs?
People often complain that QLiberator is not being updated. Just
think if
Quanta could buy the rights and then find someone to do what George
Gwilt
has managed with Turbo.
Text87 is even more interesting. There is still the incompatibilty
with the
Q60. Also no one seems to know anything about Text87 file
formatting. If we
did, the RTF/HTM filters could become quite sophisticated. Spell
checking
could be inproved and, dare I say it, Just Words! writing tools
incorporated. Would it be possible to make the program more user
friendly
and put it in a nice PE jacket?
I think if QLiberator and Text87 were achievable, I suspect Roy Wood
and/or Jochen Merz would have secured them by now.
We cannot expect 6 members of the Quanta committee to come up with
ideas, if
300 members and many more non-members cannot!
Exactly! There are plenty of lurkers on this list too, so let's see
what we can come up with, would be great to hear from members on this
list who don't write that often!
--
Dilwyn Jones
