zip (was: Re: Disk archival techniques)

[Tony Duell]

> So many people don't like that I post self extracting archives but at least 
> it is currently usable by the largest population and there is a better 

Personally, I'd rather have something that was useable by 100% of 
interested people, albeit with a little effort (like having to download 
and compile tar) than something that was useable by 95% of said people 
with no effort but totally unusable by the remaining 5% (e.g. a 
compression system that depends on a particular OS). 

[I do realise that your self-extracting archives can be attacked with 
unzip on most OSes]

> chance when everything including the tools to extract it are all in one 
> file.

That assumes that machines capable of running MS-DOS/Windoes programs 
will remain in operation. Given the difficulty of repairing modern PCs, I 
don't think that's necessarily going to be the case.

-tony