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From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Posting object code to net.sources
Message-ID: <890@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 9-Aug-84 01:06:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: bbncca.890
Posted: Thu Aug  9 01:06:46 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Aug-84 06:42:22 EDT
References: <1604@sun.uucp> <466@turtlevax.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 35


	>Yes, let's keep this object code out of net.sources.  In
	>addition, USENET is a connection of UNIX sites, and few sites
	>would be interested in CPM object code.

I really can't figure this one out, people.  Small personal computers such
as the IBM-PC and the Mac are becoming more and more pervasive, and
although I do not own either of them (yet), if I did, I would only be too
happy to receive useful programs, even if they are distributed only in
binary form.  My site may be a UNIX machine, but it's likely that there are
many PCs where I work, and many people may also have them in their homes.

The kind of argument used here could be used against people who post
C-language versions of code with heavy OS-dependencies: "Hey, keep your BDS
C forth interpreter out of net.sources; we UNIX types can't run it." or
"Where do you get off posting that 4.2BSD-dependent program: my PDP-11
running V7 barfs when I try to compile it."  But we don't say this, because
we reason that the greater good of the net is served, even if an individual
aite has no use for it.

In any event, I would hate to think that uuencoded binaries would
ever replace source-code postings where appropriate, but there are
also many benefits.  The typical PC environment is simply not the
same as your usual UNIX system: one has a superabundance of software
tools and languages, the other is as likely to run 123, a modem program
and nothing else.  If someone posts a source program written in
what-have-you, I may not be able to use it, because I haven't shelled
out $500 for the compiler.  Standardized environments like the PC
(or MSDOS machines) and the Mac actually make binary distribution
practical and preferable, and not only a way to maintain a greedy
programmer's trade secrets.
-- 
/Steve Dyer
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sdyer@bbncca.ARPA