Re: Enhance2

[TBaehr@xxxxxxxx]

In a message dated 96-05-30 Robert Holmgren wrote:

>I just DLed ENHANCE2 for the first time. Is there a mistake in the latest
>5/21/96 ZIP file? I ran a couple of routines, and they were identical to
>XyQuest's proprietary stuff. Browsing further, DLG appears to consist
>(>100%) of XyQuest material. Ergo, I wonder whether this _is_ XyQuest's
>file??

Robert (and others):
Perhaps by now you've read all the stuff that comes with ENHANCE --
particularly the README and the .DOX file. And the copyright notice in the
DLG file is pretty clear, too. It should be quite clear that the DLG file,
especially (MNU just gives access to it), is an *enhancement* of the Xyquest
version, not a total replacement for it or an addition to it. Over the
years, I have taken the out-of-box DLG (which I worked on as an employee of
Xyquest) and added features, fixed bugs, deleted stuff that doesn't work,
etc. For a while, the file had gotten so big that I was getting some memory
problems -- hence, the zapping of certain stuff I didn't like (like Manage
Files). My goal was to *integrate* my stuff into an already pretty-good
system.

There is lots of stuff in the ENHANCE.DLG file that is new and is mine. The
documentation should make this clear, and I think it does. Look at the
detailed account in ENHANCE.DOX. It tells what each enhancement is, and
where it can be found (DLG, SET, MNU). There is no "redundant overhead." If
you want to "evaluate" anything, evaluate the whole package, "pedestrian"
Xyquest stuff and all (again, see the README). That's what I offered and
delivered. And save your fifteen bucks -- you got the package for the cost
of connect time, so what's the beef? The deal is clearly stated -- if you
like it and use it, I'd like to hear from you. The "fee" is "whatever you
feel the enhancements are worth." And money or not (it's been totally "not"
so far), I *have* been posting bug fixes and improvements to Nathan.

Great that you've customized your DLG. And it would be nice if somebody came
up with a bunch of nifty routines that you could pick and choose from to
extend your own DLG. But that's not what I did, and it's not what I
pretended to do. If anybody doesn't think I haven't been up-front about my
DLG being an integrated extension of my Xyquest work, let me know and I'll
make the statements in the materials even more obvious.

What do I like best about the enhancements? The Extract Data routines, the
ZIP shell, the search stack, re-open, capping of titles, the special effects
formatting stuff, stop codes listing, some of the mail merge improvements,
wildcard copy and delete, the cdx command, the refresh command.

General advice: Be sure of what you're criticizing. I loved "Braveheart,"
but if I had been expecting a moody love story like "Remains of the Day," I
would have been sorely disappointed. And vice-versa. I loved both movies
because they delivered what they intended to deliver. I've noticed that
critics often criticize things based on their wishes and expectations, not
the reality they've been presented with. I suppose they have to preserve
their reputations as curmudgeons. But they do muddy the waters sometimes.

Tim Baehr
tbaehr@xxxxxxxx