is the aminet archive the biggest
Ian Webster
Hi,
I have been doing some work on ftp archives.
Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
This is true and not true.
Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second biggest
single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs Mahoney DOS
archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the internal America
ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB and their Mac archive
is 80,000 files and 12GB.
If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
moderated online PC and Mac archives.
Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
- all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
Thanks
ian
Chris Jones
Ian Webster wrote:
>
> Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
> - all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
>
It is simply because Amiga programs _TEND_ to be written with keeping
them small and efficient in mind. No Visual Basic here!
> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
>
On Mac and PC, there is a strong Shareware market, but little by way of
Freeware (and all of the derivations of it). Many PC/Mac shareware
programs are costly to register, and with the ease of warez, people
don't see the need to register. On the Amiga, this is different. More
programs are completely free and those that need registration will
receive a decent response (only if they are good tho!); this encourages
the authors to write more.
Plus there is the fact that we have little choice of commercial software
so we have to turn to shareware.
> Thanks
>
> ian
--
Chris Jones
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ 1st Year Information Systems Engineering +
+ University of Surrey +
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ ee6...@ee.surrey.ac.uk +
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +
+ ac...@cyberservices.com +
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +
+-----------------------------------------------+
+Amiga A1200 + 1230-IV/50/50/8 + 340Mb Hard Disk+
+Founding Member of ACES-Ng on #amiga and #worms+
+-----------------------------------------------+
Gary Peake
Ian Webster at (ia...@mpx.com.au) said is the aminet archive the biggest ... did
anyone listen?
IW> Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
IW> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
IW> - all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
Amigan's call that the pc bloat factor!
IW> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
IW> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
IW> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
Because Amigan's are generally more prone to writing/ programming than the
masses of pc/mac cloners that are not as technically involved in what they have
and what they do with it.
--
Gary Peake Coordinator
gpe...@accesscomm.net *Team AMIGA*
1:106/7511.1 In Memory of Rick Lembree
--
Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top.
trevor boehm
On 15 Dec 1996, Ian Webster wrote:
> I have been doing some work on ftp archives.
>
> Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
> This is true and not true.
>
> Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second biggest
> single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs Mahoney DOS
> archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the internal America
> ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB and their Mac archive
> is 80,000 files and 12GB.
>
> If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
> 30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
> moderated online PC and Mac archives.
>
> Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
> - all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
Simple. Software packages for the Amiga are smaller than software for the
PC and Mac. This is because
a. the software is less extravagent, or
b. the software is coded more efficiently and does not suffer the same
'code bloat' as Windows/Mac.
I tend to think both are true.
> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
I would venture to guess that since the Amiga is currently in limbo, users
feel a greater need to support their own platform and share their efforts.
Just my ideas...
Trevor Boehm
tbo...@callisto.uwinnipeg.ca
Dave
Ian Webster (ia...@mpx.com.au) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been doing some work on ftp archives.
>
> Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
> This is true and not true.
> Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second biggest
> single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs Mahoney DOS
> archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the internal America
> ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB and their Mac archive
> is 80,000 files and 12GB.
>
> If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
> 30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
> moderated online PC and Mac archives.
Ya, I wouldn't include files that are non platform specific.
>
> Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
> - all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
Bloat?
>
> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
>
I think the Amiga is more of a hobbyist computer, so there seems to be
more programmers per general user.
> Thanks
>
> ian
Whats the average Shareware costs for each platform?
--
Dave. bli...@planetx.lanz.com
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/1411/
interbbs.com 4000 [not.named.yet] A Mythran mud
Unsolicited commercial e-mail will be proofread at $50/hr, min $100
Johan Rönnblom
Ian Webster (ia...@mpx.com.au) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been doing some work on ftp archives.
>
> Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
> This is true and not true.
> Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second biggest
> single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs Mahoney DOS
> archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the internal America
> ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB and their Mac archive
> is 80,000 files and 12GB.
>
> If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
> 30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
> moderated online PC and Mac archives.
Have you excluded pictures, animations, mods, and samples from those
archives as well?
Also I think we could exclude things like the masses of Doom/Quake/DN3d/whatever
levels from PC archives, and to be fair the Worms levels from Aminet.
Of course we couldn't if we're strictly interested in what archive is the largest,
but if size is the only criteria, a 'Video-CD' archive with fifteen movies in would win :)
> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
Lots of people here are saying the Amiga is dead, so your figures must surely be wrong ;)
/Johan Rönnblom, Team Amiga
chris lee
In note <Pine.NEB.3.95.96121...@callisto.uwinnipeg.ca>,
>
>On 15 Dec 1996, Ian Webster wrote:
>
>>
>> Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
>> This is true and not true.
>>
>> Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second biggest
>> single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs Mahoney DOS
>> archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the internal America
>> ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB and their Mac archive
>> is 80,000 files and 12GB.
>>
>> If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
>> 30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
>> moderated online PC and Mac archives.
>>
>> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
>
>Simple. Software packages for the Amiga are smaller than software for the
>PC and Mac. This is because
>
>a. the software is less extravagent, or
>
>b. the software is coded more efficiently and does not suffer the same
>'code bloat' as Windows/Mac.
>
Or (c) The Amiga archives don't include all the various libraries and other
assorted files you need to get the program up and running. I don't know how
many times I've downloaded a Amiga archive only to discover it uses some
oddball library that I or any of my friends don't have and for some unknown
reason the author didn't see fit to include in the archive. This really isn't
the case with the Windows archives. If a Windows app uses a dll that normally
doesn't come with Windows, you can be pretty sure the person who wrote the
program included it with the archive.
Björn Lindgren
In article <32B739...@ba.ssdn.skellefte.se>, Johan Rönnblom writes...
>
< SNIP >
>
>> Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
>> more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
>> and mac archives. Any suggestions why this is?
>
>Lots of people here are saying the Amiga is dead, so your figures must surely
be
> wrong ;)
;-)
Regards
--
* Bjorn Lindgren | All opinions written by me is mine mine and*
* | only mine. *
Pe...@beachyhd.demon.co.uk
In a message of 17 Dec 96 chris lee wrote to All:
cl> In note
cl> <Pine.NEB.3.95.96121...@callisto.uwinnipeg.ca>, trevor
cl> boehm writes:
>> On 15 Dec 1996, Ian Webster wrote:
>>> I have been doing some work on ftp archives.
>>> Claims are often made that Aminet is the biggest of the online archives.
>>> >> This is true and not true.
>>> Currently Aminet is about 70,000 files and 9GB. This is the second
>>> biggest single archive available over the internet after Exec-PCs
>>> Mahoney DOS archive. Mahoney is around 400,000 files. Note that the
>>> internal America ON-Line PC archive is around 130,000 files and 15GB
>>> and their Mac archive is 80,000 files and 12GB.
>>> If the demo/gfx/mod and pix directories are removed there are about
>>> 30,000 files and 4.5GB. This is about the size of the more severely
>>> moderated online PC and Mac archives.
>>> Of more interest to me is the small average file size of Aminet - less
>>> than 100K (averaged over all files). Windows is around 200K and Mac 280K
>>> >> - all compressed sizes. Any suggestions why this is?
>> Simple. Software packages for the Amiga are smaller than software for
>> the PC and Mac. This is because
>> a. the software is less extravagent, or
>> b. the software is coded more efficiently and does not suffer the same
>> 'code bloat' as Windows/Mac.
cl> Or (c) The Amiga archives don't include all the various libraries and
cl> other assorted files you need to get the program up and running. I don't
cl> know how many times I've downloaded a Amiga archive only to discover it
cl> uses some oddball library that I or any of my friends don't have and
cl> for some unknown reason the author didn't see fit to include in the
cl> archive. This really isn't the case with the Windows archives. If a
cl> Windows app uses a dll that normally doesn't come with Windows, you can
cl> be pretty sure the person who wrote the program included it with the
cl> archive.
Personally I can only remember one possibly two archives that has happened.
OTOH a friend of mine bought Office '95 at Live '96 Consumer show. That
installed a DLL that caused his PC to crash every 15 minutes. He found the MS
help line as useful as a one legged man in a arse kicking contest.
Peter Hughes A.M.I.G.A. Amiga International User Groups Association
Paul O'Flynn
trevor boehm wrote:
> > Aminet is also receiving files at a faster rate than other archives -
> > more than 2,000 a month throughout 96. This is double the rate of the pc
>
> I would venture to guess that since the Amiga is currently in limbo, users
> feel a greater need to support their own platform and share their efforts.
This has always been the case, even while C= existed. My honest belief is that true techies, when
they start to program under MS, realise how bad it actually is and switch to another platform.
Certainly a number of years ago, the Amiga was by far the most advanced platform available, and thus
all true techies and programmers flocked to it. Thus you ended up with most of the shareware
programmers on Amigas, with none on PeeCees (a number of years ago..)
Paul