On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:40:20 -0400, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Dave Moorman wrote:

In article ,
"Ken Doyle" wrote:

"scott" :wrote:
Well, there's your problem Ian. You're still using Micro$oft Outhouse
Express. Free yourself from the tyranny that is MS and liberate your
machine with Open Source Software!

Fact: Most casual computer users that do newsgroups use a Microsoft program
like Outlook Express. If you post a picture in yEnc you limit your audience
by adding extra steps (and programs) to decode the post.

As Jimmy Durante said: "Deez are da conditions dat prevail".

yEnc doesn't make the files all that much smaller or easier to decode, it
might be worth it for a busy binary newsgroup with a lot of mulit-part
messages, but even then the space saving is not impressive. Many people
believe that yEnc was developed purely to screw Microsoft. I'm sure
something better will come along any month now, no need to change formats
every time the wind blows.

Ken D.

Thanks for the background, Ken. I guess the next question is: Why is it
so hard for MS software to decode yEnc?

I'm not a fan of yEnc and don't care if it's used or not, because it's
all the same to my Usenet software. But I'm always surprised at how
difficult it is for some people, all PC users. Is MS unable or
unwilling to include yEnc decoding in Outlook Express?



What about people uses computers other than Windows, Linux or Mac? I
know people who use Commodore Amiga computers, and I have heard that
someone has managd to use a Commodore 64 to access Usenet. Both ot
these can display GIF files, but can not convert Yenc.


Michael,

I primarily use Ubuntu Linux, but I do have a Windows 2000 partition that
tries to work. I loaded the OS and all my hardware was detected. It was
actually easier than loading Windows. I used the built in download
utility to download the PAN newsreader. I then went to the easyubuntu.org
site and downloaded that utility. Once I ran one small line of code from
the easyubuntu instructions, the utility allowed me to install the most
commonly used plugins and codecs to enable any non open source multimedia
applications including yenc. Now whenever I click on a yenc encoded post
PAN just opens it. No muss or fuss. I neither like nor dislike yenc. I
just know it works without any problems on my system. I also know I never
have liked OutLook Express as a newsreader. Its just not easily
customizable for my particular needs. When I was running a MAC I used
Hogwasher as my newsreader. None of this is real geeky stuff and it works
with older hardware. I just got sick and tired of getting out the credit
card every 3 years to pay Microsoft and then find I needed new hardware
and other software as well. My wife likes Ubuntu so much she stopped using
her MAC. She says it's easier and make more sense to her. Of course there
is a cost to all this... free. If you are too lazy to learne how to
download and install linux, the ubuntu folks will send you a free CD in
the mail if you email them requesting one. Think free, like in, freedom of
speech.

Scott.

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