PKWare Files a Patent Application for Secure .zip

prostoalex writes "The battle of ZIP formats might intensify as PKWare filed an application with USPTO to obtain a patent on its Secure Zip technology, which pretty much involves archiving with strong cryptography. If the patent gets granted, PKWare will license its algorithms for other software manufacturers. A representative of Aladdin Systems summed it up: "The good thing about the .zip file format was that you knew you could send it to everyone. Now that's getting broke.""

Comments

Re:Use PGP

[FrankoBoy]

Indeed.

Re:7-zip

[pla]

Everybody, start using the (open source) 7-zip instead.

No kidding. It amazes me that a lot more people don't use this - It handles all the major formats (zip, tar, gz, bz2, cab, no "sit", though) better than the "native" program for them does, and hey, open source to boot. And, its "7z" format really does get 10-30% better compression than even bzip2.


Gotta agree with the other response to you, though - the interface needs MAJOR work. It doesn't "look" bad, but feels very counterintuitive. Hell, if they totally eliminated the psuedo-explorer-esque look and just let me drag-and-drop, I'd consider it perfect.

Re:Ironic quote from Aladdin Systems

[innate]

You're partly right. StuffIt was the main compression format until OS X came along, but it's not the only format that preserves resource forks.

Today you'll mainly see .dmg (disk image) format, which features compression, optional encryption, and preserves resource forks. Also common are .pkg (a compressed installer, which can include files with resource forks) and .tar.gz files (I don't think they preserve resource forks).

And some folks still use Stuffit .sit files.