Re: DOS 3.3 for 1.40 MB disk, for a system with non-working 80-column code?

["Charlie" <charlied@NOSPAMbboard.com>]

"Jalapeno" <jalapeno1@mac.com> wrote in message
jalapeno1-671D5B.06103614122002@nntp.mindspring.com">news:jalapeno1-671D5B.06103614122002@nntp.mindspring.com...
> In article <atehbo0gjk@enews2.newsguy.com>,
>  "Charlie" <charlied@NOSPAMbboard.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > It is my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong on this) that the
> > ShrinkIt algorithm is patented and that the company that owns the rights to
> > it aggressively enforces it's ownership.
>
> Unisys inherited the patent for LZW compression during one of its
> mergers. Dr. Dobbs journal had some articles explaining how it works
> (prior to the merger) and programmers began using it. When Adobe added
> LZW compression to the PDF format and gave away Acrobat reader for free
> Unisys management went balistic (how much money have we lost in this
> process!).
>
> Unisys decided to enforce the patent in an odd way. A shareware author
> could pay a one-time fee of $2,000 USD if they charge for their program.
> A freeware author had to pay a royalty for EVERY copy of their program
> that was distributed, for use of the patented compression/decompression
> algorithm. This allowed them to negotiate a cash settlement with Adobe.
> Unfortunately, Andy Nicholas owes a royalty for every one of us who uses
> Shrink-it (until the patent expires). The Apple II community has decided
> that programs written prior to Unisys enforcing their patent are exempt
> (though, to my knowledge, and I asked them, Unisys has never said so).
>
> I seriously doubt Unisys will go after Shrink-it, they were more
> interested in getting money from Acrobat reader.

Thanks for the information.  It seems to follow what I recalled from an earlier
discussion although I'm sure I never knew all the details.

Charlie