"Nick Sabalausky" <a@a.a> wrote in message news:jcvnmn$2ea8$1...@digitalmars.com... > "Nick Sabalausky" <a@a.a> wrote in message > news:jcvmud$2d2h$1...@digitalmars.com... >> "Jonathan M Davis" <jmdavisp...@gmx.com> wrote in message >> news:mailman.1834.1324571496.24802.digitalmar...@puremagic.com... >>> On Thursday, December 22, 2011 06:25:42 a wrote: >>>> Why are you ignoring the statement about 7z having the same >>>> accessibility >>>> level as rar? Rar files are not rare and users who can open rar files >>>> (on >>>> Windows usually with WinRAR or 7zip) can also open 7z files. >>> >>> But not without installing 3rd party software. Windows can handle zip >>> files out >>> of the box. It can't handle the others. rar would have exactly the same >>> problem as 7z files (though from what I've see rar files are much more >>> commonly >>> used). We _could_ use a file format other than zip, but then we'd be >>> requiring >>> that the user download a 3rd party app just to be able to open the file, >>> which >>> is _not_ the case with zip. >>> >> >> Once again: >> >> 1. "If you're a programmer, or even just a power user, you have >> absolutely no >> excuse not to *already* have a 7z-capable program [EDIT: such as WinRAR, >> for instance] installed." >> >> 2. "What the hell programmer is limited to whatever archive support just >> happens to be >> built into Windows?" >> >> Even *in addition* to all of that, the built-in windows support for zip >> is *extremely* dummy^H^H^H^H^Haverage-Joe -oriented. Page after page of >> hand-holding "wizard" *just* to "extract here"? I can't imagine any >> programmer or power user even being capable of putting up with that for >> more than a few days before finally just grabbing WinRAR, etc. And I'm >> not just speculating: Honestly, I've never even known *one* programmer or >> power user who actually used Windows's built-in zip support. >> > > Additionally, sticking with zip-only is like sticking with mp3 for audio. > Just let them die already! But that's never going to happen if people keep > offering things in *just* zip or mp3. > > You know what gets me about this stuff? People have *no* problem expecting > others to have multi-core, 64-bit, gobs of RAM, etc., all stuff you have > to actually go out and buy, and sure, one could perhaps make an argument > for that (that's completely beside my point here), BUT then expecting > people (and not just ordinary people, but *programmers*) to upgrade from > downright ancient *file formats* (ie, software-only) and suddenly there's > a bunch of "Oh hell no!" >
Yet one more thing: The idea is to offer 7z as an alternative to zip, not a replacement. So with even that one point alone, the whole "access to a 7z program" issue goes away *completely*. Honestly, I don't see why there's even still a debate.
