Re: UNIX Compressed Files From A PC

[Tucker Taft <stt@averstar.com>]

"Tarjei T. Jensen" wrote:
> 
> Ted Dennison wrote:
> >No. As I mentioned previously, you'll have a tough time finding free
> >solutions to his problem. Zlib can not decompress files compressed with
> >the Unix "compress" command. Zlib is meant to be Free (capital F), and
> >thus does not mess with patented algorithms. It is built around
> >providing support for gzip (.gz) compression. It can also deal with .zip
> >files with a bit of work, I believe.
> 
> I don't think this is true since gzip decompresses .Z ("compress") files.
> Decompression have never been an issue, but compression is. Otherwise netscape
> and Micosoft would have had to pay licenses for their browsers.

I have heard from several sources that decompression is not covered
by the patent, despite Unisys' scare tactics.  So feel free to
decompress without getting a license from Unisys.  I think you can
also rely on the "small fry" effect.  Unisys won't bother going after
anyone who is a "small fry."  They realize that such a person has
insufficient assets to make it worth their while.  Of course, if some
"small fry" goes after Unisys for some unrelated patent reason, they
will probably get hammered. 

> 
> Greetings,

-- 
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Commercial Division, AverStar (formerly Intermetrics)
(http://www.averstar.com/services/IT_consulting.html)  Burlington, MA  USA