[arachne] Re: 2DOLIST

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John,

I made a few contacts about a month ago before I had some hardware
problems. I had a few responses, but those emails are now trapped in a
file that I can't open, on a HD that has some problems.

I simply did some Google searches for "free DOS programs", "freeware
DOS", etc., downloaded the programs and tried to email the author and
tell them about the new Arachne GPL. I ran into a few problems because
the "download sites" were wrong (my fault), but I had about 75 percent
positive response (no negatives, 25 percent no answer).

Most of the original DOS shareware programmers don't have any ambitions
now about selling their software, but many still like the development
game. I figured that some might dust off their old code and try to bring
it back to life, others might even want to help with Arachne GPL.

For the most part, anything "freeware" would be a good starting point. At
a minimum, others could easily obtain copies so we would all be on the
same sheet of music. The ideal, of course, would be programs that were
open source, but that's not absolutely necessary.

My preference for project-document management (for Arachne) would be HTML
as a notepad for thought processing and management. Since Arachne handles
text files like HTML, it would be easy just to add in document links as
they became available. This would require a small amount of manual
adjustment to the HTML code page (the HTM or AH file), but the product is
immediately comprehensive and useful for even the beginning Arachne user.

If the .AH format were used, then even DGI examples could be integrated
into the mix. The scheme is flexible and expandable. Theoretically,
audio, video, and animated graphics would all work as sources of
information. Plus - since this is about Arachne development - this would
highlight the strengths of Arachne as compared to other browsers (or
desktop GUIs, for that matter).

Anyway, that's my 0.02 ... if you are going to do the work, then you get
the honor of choosing your weapon. Anybody who disagrees can create their
own version of documentation ... that's the beauty of GPL - everybody
owns all the code and can manipulate it how they want.

Press on, brother John.

Bob ~


On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 "John Sparks" <johncsparks@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> Hi Bob,
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bob Dohse" <bobdohse@xxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 3:07 AM
> >
> > Whatever the format (spreadsheet, database, text, HTML, etc.), I
> > suggest that we use a freeware DOS program that has either the
> > source code available (the ideal choice) or a freeware DOS
> > program that comes with permission to freely copy and distribute
> > the code.
> >
> Good point.
> 
> > Some of the old freeware DOS authors have expressed interest in
> > rewriting their old code to make it fully Arachne-compatible. 
> > Why not pursue that option?
> 
> Have you any author in mind?

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