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New Winzip in the Works

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unzip-it dept.

flufster writes "Today WinZip released a public beta version of WinZip 10.0, the latest version of the popular archiving software. The biggest change in this version is that the software has finally been broken into two versions - Standard and Professional, offering paying users additional functionality in the Professional version, while allowing others to use the Standard edition without an annoying nag screen. Version 10.0 has a revamped interface designed to mimic XP's Windows Explorer, and claims to zip archives faster. The software now supports the PPMd and bzip2 compression formats, and can burn from zip archives directly to writable optical media such as CDs and DVDs. The main addition to the Pro edition is an automation feature called 'WinZip Job Wizard' which allows scheduled archiving instructions to be set. Almost all the other features we're used to now come completely free in the Standard edition."

7 of 530 comments (clear)

  1. Last chance saloon by oberondarksoul · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've personally always quite liked using WinZip on the PC; yes, Windows has had zip capabilities built-in for a while now (I believe they debuted in Windows ME), but I've still always preferred keeping WinZip around, especially for its disk-spanning capabilities.

    However, with broadband increasing in prevelance, and pendrives and CD writers becoming pretty much the norm now for home users (my parents, never the most technologically literate of users, have their own USB pendrives which they love), not to mention zip integration into just about every common OS now, is there still a place for WinZip? Even if people continue to download it, most people I know who've used it just bypass the nag screens without a second thought - how long can they survive?

    --
    And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
    1. Re:Last chance saloon by shancock · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I agree completely. I also have used winzip from day one and this is the first upgrade that my registration number did not work on. Until this point all my upgrades have been free.

      I guess this emphasises the fact that they are going to have to find a new way to generate $.

      I think it may be time for me to switch. I don't feel that I should be paying for a basic utility that comes free with most apps anyway.

  2. So what? by Evro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What is this now, Pressreleasedot? I'm running WinZip 8.0 and will never upgrade it for the same reason I'll never upgrade from AIM 4.3, Acrobat 5, and Office 2000: the problem is solved and the old version does everything it should without any new useless cruft (why is Acrobat 7 ~25 megs to read PDF files? And why does it access the Internet at all?).

    Did all the "old school" Slashdot editors leave or something? These new guys they have are pretty lame.

    --
    rooooar
  3. what? by tomstdenis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    tar + bzip2 + mkisofs + cdrecord.

    Wow... now I don't need "professional" tools.

    Seriously, windows users come to expect nothing any more I guess. There are alternatives to "the 10th edition of twenty year old compression algorithms".

    I'm sorry but honestly what the fuck is the real market for Winzip?

    Even when I was a windows user I used Winimp as it is free, compresses better [when making .imp, it also handles zips fine] and doesn't require me to shell out money.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  4. Re:What a ridiculous advertisement! by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The stats still show that the vast majority of people who visit Slashdot are running Windows. But yeah, it is an ad.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  5. /. readers should care about WinZip because... by dskoll · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... it supports a new "deflate64" compression that is NOT supported by zlib. As a result, clamd chokes on some ZIP files and can't scan them.

    This pain-in-the-@ss aspect of the new Winzip is the most likely thing to affect /. readers.

  6. WinRAR 3.50 recently released, fyi by simetra · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This new release includes "themes", which greatly de-uglifies it. Also, it reads/writes iso's, which is cool. I don't know if winzip does that or not. Winrar has a pretty powerful CLI too, which I use to back up certain directories on my Windows machine through a scheduled task. Winzip I believe has command-line options too.

    Anyway, the new WinRAR is so nice I bought a copy.

    Yes, bought, as in spent money! You can do that, you know.

    --

    "Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou