From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1ece2318f24b35a7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Tucker Taft Subject: Re: UNIX Compressed Files From A PC Date: 2000/08/18 Message-ID: <399D4F3D.62F3B919@averstar.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 659754547 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <3995C90A.E72C055F@acm.org> <3996DCFB.22A75F67@acm.org> <3996D2DE.5E9BB6FE@netwood.net> <3997FF32.D2B43133@acm.org> <8ngpm8$tof$1@melusine.cuivre.fr.eu.org> <8ngto9$tge$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <8nitqp$s5q8@news.kvaerner.com> X-Accept-Language: en Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Complaints-To: usenet@inmet2.burl.averstar.com X-Trace: inmet2.burl.averstar.com 966610750 19188 141.199.8.77 (18 Aug 2000 14:59:10 GMT) Organization: AverStar (formerly Intermetrics) Burlington, MA USA Mime-Version: 1.0 NNTP-Posting-Date: 18 Aug 2000 14:59:10 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-08-18T14:59:10+00:00 List-Id: "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