Having just read "How Safe Is Data Compression?" (February), I feel somewhat validated in my concerns. I have used all but the latest releases of Stacker and both DOS releases of DoubleSpace, and I have suffered catastrophic data loss with all of them--on five different computer systems.
I, too, had long assumed, as author Tom R. Halfhill claims, that "the real problem isn't data compression, though; it's how well the technology is implemented in the operating environment." Accordingly, I have always striven to limit the number of software vendors I've bought products from and always paid the premium for brand-name, U.S.-made hardware. Yet I continue to suffer catastrophic data loss. The common factors among all my difficulties have been the use of compression and the MS-DOS operating system.
My experiences with compression are wide and varied. Yet I am far from
being an expert in the field. How could I hope to become one when even the technical-support staffs and engineering personnel are stumped?
Gregory D. Miller
Stanford, CA
Flexible C++
Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it
is
theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.
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Compression Woes
