At 01:49 PM 5/9/00 -0700, Bill Karwin wrote:

>The Blob taxonomy idea helps to avoid collisions, too.
>
>If some developer needs to support CAB files on an aggressive project
>schedule, he can guess at an unused archive file type number, and be
>reasonably sure that someone else working on an urgent schedule for an MP3
>isn't going to grab the same number.
>

No, he cannot.

The subtype space is cut in half. Positive numbers belong to
Interbase, negative numbers to users. The ONLY way a positive
subtype can be assigned is through the Interbase architectural
process. If somebody grabs a number without authorization he
can expect to suffer the consequences.

Open Source does not mean anarchy, it means playing by agreed
on rules.

Jim Starkey