ONE FILE OR MULTIPLE FILES?
---------------------------

When preparing your product for distribution, one of the first questions 
you'll need to deal with is "Do I distribute this product as a single file, or 
split it up into multiple files?"

The answer in the past was to use multiple files, for a couple of very valid 
reasons:

   1) Disk vendors needed files which would fit on floppy disks.

   2) BBSs imposed strict time limitations on their callers, due to the 
   limited number of phone lines available for callers. As such, smaller 
   sized files were requested so they could be downloaded (often in 
   multiple sessions) within the callers allotted online time.

However, the times have changed dramatically in recent years. With the 
ever-increasing popularity of the Internet and other major online services, 
the current answer is to use a single file.

   1) Disk vendors are no longer a major force shareware marketplace.

   2) The majority of online users have moved away from the BBSs in favor
   of the Internet and other major online services, and those services have 
   no time limitations. As such, forcing users to download multiple files 
   for a single product is more of an annoyance than a benefit.

   3) Many of the major online distributors will not even accept multi-part 
   filesets, simply because they are too problematic, both for them and 
   for their customers.

This is certainly not meant to be a slam against the few BBSs and disk vendors 
who remain. But the explosion of the Internet, CompuServe, America Online, etc 
has forced the remaining BBSs and Disk Vendors to take a back seat in 
shareware distribution system.

As such, authors have been forced to re-think their packaging methods in order 
to better accommodate the segments of the current industry which will be most 
beneficial to them. It simply makes no sense to continue tailoring their 
packaging methods for segments of the industry which will have little impact 
on the overall distribution of their products. Instead, they need to tailor 
their packaging methods to best accommodate the segments that will have the 
most impact (just as they did when the BBSs and Disk Vendors were the primary 
distribution channels for shareware).


SO, ARE MULTI-PART FILESETS COMPLETELY DEAD?
--------------------------------------------

No, not completely. There are still a couple of valid reasons for producing a 
multi-part fileset:

   1) Authors who provide shareware/evaluation versions of their products
   on floppy disks are still limited by the physical space of the disks.

   2) Authors who wish to continue supporting the remaining BBSs and Disk 
   Vendors still need to accommodate the smaller filesize needs of those 
   distributors.

But these situations should be considered as secondary. If an author chooses 
to support either of those situations, they should create separate 
distribution filesets for those purposes, while maintaining a single fileset 
as their primary electronic distribution package.


SO, ONE PACKAGING METHOD WON'T COVER ALL DISTRIBUTION AVENUES?
--------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately, that is true. In order to take full advantage of all current 
distribution avenues, it is no longer feasible to use one single packaging 
method -- BBSs and Disk Vendors don't want or can't handle huge single files, 
and the major online distributors don't want or can't handle the smaller 
multi-part filesets.

In order to get the widest distribution possible from all the various 
channels, you need to tailor your packaging methods to best accommodate the 
wants, needs, and desires of each specific channel. Unfortunately, this means 
maintaining multiple distribution packages.


I KNOW..... I'LL TRICK THE SYSTEM!
----------------------------------

Some authors try to trick the current system by creating multi-part ZIPd 
filesets for BBSs and Disk Vendors, and then simply packaging those multiple 
ZIP files inside a single ZIP file for uploading to the major online 
distributors. Chances are pretty good that the online distributors will either 
reject such packages completely, or they'll request that the author resubmit a 
properly packaged single distribution fileset.

In the long run, it's better to simply bite the bullet in the beginning, and 
create the type of fileset that is best for the distribution avenue(s) you 
plan to utilize.


I KNOW..... I'LL (UNINTENTIONALLY) TRICK THE SYSTEM!
----------------------------------------------------

Many authors who use the Wise installation system will have it generate a 
multi-part installation EXE fileset (i.e setup.exe, setup.w02, setup.w03, 
etc), which is specifically designed for spanning multiple floppy disks, and 
then package those multi-part files in their single distribution ZIP file. 
(other Windows installers may offer this capability as well, but I'm unaware 
of them)

However, this practice has a hidden 'gotcha' for the author -- the testing and 
processing utilities used by some distributors will identify the 1st part of 
the installation EXE file (the setup.exe part) as an archive file (by 
examining the 'signature' in the header of the file), and will attempt to 
extract the contents for testing. However, since the Wise system has split the 
full archive into multiple parts, none of the resulting individual parts are 
valid archive files. The result is that the processing utility will reject the 
product because it thinks it contains invalid archive files. For mass 
electronic distribution, you need to tell the Wise system to create a single 
setup.exe file, and make sure that it is PKZip-Compatible, so that such 
processing and testing utilities will be able to extract and test the contents 
properly.

Again, if you want to cover all the bases, you'll need to maintain a single 
setup.exe file for electronic distribution, and a multi-part installation 
fileset for floppy disk usage.

----------
Prepared by Richard Holler, 23-Dec-97.

While I don't claim to speak for the entire electronic distribution industry, 
I do have a long history of experience in the file distribution world. I've 
been a distributor member of the ASP since 1991, have worked for ZDNet as an 
online file librarian since 1992, and I've operated my own Author-Direct 
distribution service since 1993.
