BreakPoint
RAR files. Why?
@PaulG. wrote:My IT guy told me to just buy Winzip
With this one statement I can tell you I wouldn't want that person to be in my IT department. Also for fun I googled who buys winzip and this was the first result.
It's like who would every buy a piece of software for archives when 7-zip does it the best and for free? Does anyone ever pay for a program that plays video files, or do people just use VLC because it's free and awesome? What about video encoding, why pay money when Handbrake or Super does it better than software you pay for. I'm not trying to sound snarky (but yeah I might be giving that vibe) I just had never heard of anyone actually paying for Winzip, let alone anyone recommend pay for Winzip.
@Hooovahh wrote:It's like who would every buy a piece of software for archives when 7-zip does it the best and for free?
I worked for a company for 8 years that had a winzip company license. I think they were allowed 1000 seats or something rediculous like that. They were very much against open source and EVERYTHING had to be OKed by IT. For some reason, I actually made a library for using the command line for WinZip (extra free install to enable the command line interface). It worked well. Never did port it over to work with my OOP setup I made for 7-Zip (which I made since the built in LabVIEW zip VIs are SLOOOOOOOOOOOW).
@crossrulz wrote:
@PaulG. wrote:I just hate the idea of spending $50 on something I might use 1-2x a year.
Especially since you can get 7Zip for FREE! That is unless your IT people are completely against open source applications.
Surprisingly...quite a few are. When you pay for an application, you expect a level of support that comes with it - if it's free, you're pretty much on your own! Imagine how much money could be saved if companies switched over to open source applications (e.g. OpenOffice etc. etc.).
I've just started using DesignSpark which is a free (but not open source) Schematic/PCB design tool - everyone keeps looking over my shoulder saying that it's pretty similar to the package that they use that costs £1000s.
Sam_Sharp wroteSurprisingly...quite a few are. When you pay for an application, you expect a level of support that comes with it - if it's free, you're pretty much on your own!
I don't mean to make this into an open source discussion, but I totally get where you are coming from. It's just what kind of support do you need from an archive program? I'm not saying compression is always simple, but when compared to something like an office suite, with all kinds of possible network, and domain integration issues, it makes compressing and uncompressing files seem trivial. I'm not close minded when it comes to closed software, but it sounds like that IT was close minded when it came to open software.
@Sam_Sharp wrote:I've just started using DesignSpark which is a free (but not open source) Schematic/PCB design tool - everyone keeps looking over my shoulder saying that it's pretty similar to the package that they use that costs £1000s.
How does Ultiboard stand up? Probably only an attractive tool if you are an Alliance Member.
@Hooovahh wrote:
@PaulG. wrote:My IT guy told me to just buy Winzip
With this one statement I can tell you I wouldn't want that person to be in my IT department. Also for fun I googled who buys winzip and this was the first result.
It's like who would every buy a piece of software for archives when 7-zip does it the best and for free? Does anyone ever pay for a program that plays video files, or do people just use VLC because it's free and awesome? What about video encoding, why pay money when Handbrake or Super does it better than software you pay for. I'm not trying to sound snarky (but yeah I might be giving that vibe) I just had never heard of anyone actually paying for Winzip, let alone anyone recommend pay for Winzip.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
About 17 years ago I paid for a license. It was good idea at the time (but do not ask me why... it was a long time ago) Maybe becuase it was easier to transport a stack of floppies than carrying my tower back and forth from work to home. My neighbor called the tower "my litle buddy" becuase I would buckle it into the front seat when I departed for work in the mornings.
I still get e-mails from Winzip letting me know about updates and new features.
So YOU my dear sir Hooovahh can no longer claim that you never heard of anyone actually paying for Winzip.
Ben
@PaulG. wrote:My IT guys are solid. 7Zip was his idea. Winzip was mine.
I see well then let me revise my statement:
I'm not close minded when it comes to closed software, but it sounds like that IT PaulG was is close minded when it came to open software.
I just know when it comes to archives, playing videos, and encoding videos, I have never needed to call up support from 7-zip, VLC, or Handbrake. It's a good think because I can't, but I haven't needed to yet.
Oh and apparently 7-zip was first released in 1999, you probably bought Winzip just as 7-zip was being released. Of course that first release could have been crap I have no idea.
When faced with dilemmas such as WinZIP/7-zip I usually do this:
Rolled my own in pure G. No real desire to add RAR to my list of supported formats, not even to wrap the free command line tool for extraction.
There is a Wikipedia page comparing compression programs and wizip is definitely the oldest, I.e. the first GUI to the original PKZIP. Nowadays zip support is built into the OS and available disk space and Internet speeds makes compression almost irrelevant. Downloading is often faster than unzipping. 😮
For a while I was hosting my programs on Google sites with a 20MB file size limit, and at one point they grew slightly larger. I could get the size below the limit by using some fancy 7zip options, but some resulting zip files failed to open using the OS tools.
For full compatibility, I stick to the OS built-in stuff.
