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Monster Media 1994 #1
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VNDINF10.ZIP
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VENDOR.TXT
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1994-02-28
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┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ VENDINFO -- What's in It for the VENDOR? │
│ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Although everybody benefits from the VENDINFO standard and tools,
vendors probably realize the largest direct benefit. Regardless of
whether they're mail-order disk vendors, rack vendors, CD-ROM
publishers, or whatever, they'll find that VENDINFO reduces their
effort and increases their capabilities in many ways.
The ability to test for distribution permissions by using automated
tools will greatly reduce the effort expended by the vendor in
selecting and processing products. This testing allows the vendor
to describe quite detailed distribution situations, and obtain an
output that conveys or denies permission, or indicates the additional
conditions that must be satisfied.
An even greater labor-saver for many vendors will be the ability
to extract a wide variety of information directly from VENDINFO
files, in order to produce catalog entries, files lists, etc.
This information includes product descriptions; required platform;
contact information for author, technical support, and ordering;
prices and registration benefits; distribution policies, and more.
Some distributors will find they can now automate the entire process
of catalog production.
VENDINFO can automate many other package-handling operations, as
well:
o It can test for allowable package modifications, such as
recompressing, adding/changing installation procedures,
addition of ads, help, or GO.BAT files, etc.
o It can automatically rename packages to the authors'
preferred names, eliminating duplication.
o It can automatically move packages to selected directories
based on the product category encoded in the VENDINFO record.
o It can build a list of older version packages that have been
rendered obsolete by the current version, allowing you to free
up space and maintain a current inventory.
o It can show you the names of other required packages, so you
can verify that you have all parts of a multipart product.
o It can detect commercial or registered programs marked with an
abbreviated VENDINFO "executable" record, even if they're part
of an otherwise distributable package. (late Spring, 1994)
o It can detect a package that has been altered from the
original form prepared by the author. To a limited extent,
it can also determine whether or not the changes satisfy the
terms of the author's distribution license.
o By providing automated access to author contact information
of several sorts, it can reduce the labor associated with
your communication with authors.
And VENDINFO helps in several other ways:
o The VENDINFO record provides a security layer, greatly
increasing your confidence that you're seeing information
as it was actually provided by the author.
o The VENDINFO file actually SAVES space in the distribution
package, because it's almost always smaller than the
VENDOR.DOC, SYSOP.DOC, READ_ME.DOC, and other files it
replaces.
o The VENDINFO Product Registry (available by subscription)
will allow the vendor to notice new products and versions
that might otherwise be overlooked, maintain current contact
information for authors, obtain screenshots, etc.
o The VendLib developer's library makes it possible for the
distributor to write customized database software for internal
use, and efficiently extract information from VENDINFO files
into the database.