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1994-09-05
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Path: oz.cdrom.com!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!uunet!news1.digex.net!access3!tdarcos
From: tdarcos@access3.digex.net (Paul Robinson)
Newsgroups: alt.games.doom
Subject: Re: ID is losing control...
Date: 6 Sep 1994 04:50:31 GMT
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
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Justin Beech (justinb@ministry) wrote:
: What about this thought: ID is losing control of its destiny. Doom has become
: _over_ sucessful, soon, the wad file format will become a "standard". A
: standard that, like the IBM PC, started out being proprietary, then evolved
: to become, basically, public.
The IBM PC was never proprietary. IBM never patented it.
: The wad file format is understood now: All that remains is for someone to
: write a engine (public domain or not) that works with the growing library of
: PWads out there. The Doom engine is good, ahead of its time, but with all
: the attention on it now, and a huge reward for whomever makes and sells
: the first "Doom-wad compatible engine", it is living on borrowed time.
: The day it has a competitor will be a day of similar importance to the one
: when the first plug compatible IBM BIOS was released.
My guess is that there is a likelihood that ID's lawyers may claim that a
third-party wad processor infringes upon their copyright or the trade
secret rights they have in their data file format. This would most
likely force the FTP sites not to carry it and for any distributor to be
leery. Sure, a third party might win on the merits, but having to spend
upwards of perhaps $200,000 to prove it is another thing.
: If such an engine was "better than the original", then the circle is closed,
: and ID becomes just one of the players, not the ONLY player, and probably
: not even the major player.
Assuming a third-party engine was able to do that, which I wonder about.
: So, the wad file becomes an "industry" standard outside ID - concensus is
: necessary to change the wad format. ID can do better engines, but because
: they are incompatible with the standard they become mere sideshows,
: footnotes in history like the Dec Rainbow or AmigaDos.
ID created the Wad format. Their applications can add new specifications
to it and it's no one else's business as to whether it works with them or
not.
: I think ID know this, they are trying to slow the inevitable by asking
: people not to allow Wads on CDs
I was unaware of any such request.
: not to do Wads that work with the shareware version
That's because they want to encourage people to buy the game.
: restrictions on graphics use etc etc... They dont want
: to see the power spread around because it just makes it all happen sooner,
: and makes it harder to make an impact with Quake.
I think the people at ID Software are most interested in seeing to it
that their programs keep selling.
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