I have to logically agree with you. Indeed, Mike never issued a statement like, "I am amending the contest rules so that multiple files decoded by a single program are admitted as a valid solution."
Only, this trickerly was not Mike's intent, otherwise, of course, he would have played this card immediately. For instance:
"I said you could send that to me because that is a true statement with which I therefore agree. It is undeniably true that you can send me anything you like. You can send me an e-greeting card for my birthday, and you can send me a Britney Spears MP3 as a MIME attachment. You can send me questions asking about what you can send me. Obviously, though, the only material which you can send me which also happens to conform to the contest rules is a single program and a single data file. Please re-read the contest statement; I will gladly explain any portion of it that is not clear."
Mike had no need to complain that the program isn't a decompressor. He should have played it as above.
Instead, he demonstrated acceptance of the the multi-file structure of the solution by complaining that the algorithm in the program file isn't a form of compression.
Only, this trickerly was not Mike's intent, otherwise, of course, he would have played this card immediately. For instance:
"I said you could send that to me because that is a true statement with which I therefore agree. It is undeniably true that you can send me anything you like. You can send me an e-greeting card for my birthday, and you can send me a Britney Spears MP3 as a MIME attachment. You can send me questions asking about what you can send me. Obviously, though, the only material which you can send me which also happens to conform to the contest rules is a single program and a single data file. Please re-read the contest statement; I will gladly explain any portion of it that is not clear."
Mike had no need to complain that the program isn't a decompressor. He should have played it as above.
Instead, he demonstrated acceptance of the the multi-file structure of the solution by complaining that the algorithm in the program file isn't a form of compression.