DonationCoder.com Forum
Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: kimmchii on July 29, 2006, 01:13 AM
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WinRAR Voted Overall Best Utility for SIAF People's Choice Award
The people have spoken and voted WinRAR as Best Overall Utility. Each year the
Shareware Industry Awards Foundation (SIAF) asks computer users from all over
to vote for their favorite software.
Thanks for all your support and for voting for WinRAR. It was a great honor for
us to receive such an award.
More information about the SIAF People's Choice Awards and all the winners can
be found at »www.sic.org/peopleschoice.asp.
To Say Thanks and to Celebrate: Get the Winner WinRAR 3.51 for FREE on Sunday
In order to thank everyone who voted for us and made it possible for us to
win this prestigious award, we are offering the WinRAR 3.51 single user license
non upgradeable version this Sunday the 30th of July 2006 from 00:00 until
24:00 CET for absolutely FREE. Please click the following link which will become
active on Sunday. Fill out the form on that page in order to receive further
information via e-mail about how to get your FREE version of WinRAR.
http://www.win-rar.com/bestoverallutility
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Wow super nice find!!!! Thanks!!! :Thmbsup:
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Yow! I'm all over this!
- Oshyan
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That sounds Great!...Many thanks!... :Thmbsup:
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This is cool! 8)
WinRar is my favourite compression tool. I hope i don't forget to download it tomorrow.
Thanks! :Thmbsup:
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Thanks for the info, kimmchii :Thmbsup:
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Hoo boy, I bet that's gonna be a dificult link to actually get to... it's not Sunday yet, and I'm getting:
Warning: mysql_pconnect() [function.mysql-pconnect]: #08004Too many connections in /opt/www/wwwroot/www.win-rar.com/html/t3lib/class.t3lib_db.php on line 813
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Wow, this is pretty cool even though it is locked to a single version. I doubt it will be a problem for most people though as nothing significant has been added to WinRAR for years (LZMA please!).
On the other hand, from a security perspective this potentially undermines Authenticity Verification bigtime as with a bit of effort you can no doubt get multiple licenses masquerading as whoever. Well, if the site is up in the first place. :P
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The offer is for Sunday, Central European Time - so it's open now!
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I have been using 7-Zip which has always been free and Open Source. And I was under the impression it has greater compression ratio than WinRAR, especially with multiple files . Can someone set me straight?
The main features of 7-Zip:
* High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
* 7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL
* Supported formats:
o Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
o Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
* For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
* Self-extracting capability for 7z format
* Integration with Windows Shell
* Powerful File Manager
* Powerful command line version
* Plugin for FAR Manager
* Localizations for 63 languages
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read the massive review zaine wrote:
https://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/ArchiveTools/index.html
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Compression of every format, including RAR and 7Z, very much depends on the type of file being compressed. For example 3D OBJ models tend to be compressed extremely well by 7-Zip - better than RAR even. Whereas Terragen .ter terrain files tend to compress better with RAR. There is no clear winner as far as I know. Hopefully 7-Zip's format will continue to gain support and it can be more safely used as a general compression format in the future but for now RAR is a safer bet from a compatibility standpoint.
- Oshyan
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The only problem with rar is that winrar is the only one that can compress it. rarlabs uncooly charges people to utilize its format. You can decompress it all you want, but try and compress to it, and you will get charged royalties. So, I tend to find it unfair when people compare winrar to other archivers when the makers of winrar make it so that only winrar can compress rar.
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Sure it's "fair", it's just that the licensing terms and availability of compatible applications should be taken into account. :D
- Oshyan
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For those of you that have taken advantage of this offer, you can't use the instructions in the email they sent you, once you have that key.
It says to double click the key file but that will result in this error:
(http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6870/rarkeyxj4.th.jpg) (http://img96.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rarkeyxj4.jpg)
What you have to do is make sure you have version 3.51 installed and open it. then drag that key file into it and you are done.
The email gave bad installing info.
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Is anyone else having problems with the registration page?...After filling it out it just sits there and does not change...
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The site is more than a bit overloaded. If you keep refreshing after it times out you'll get there eventually. It must have taken me 20-30 attempts at 02:00 CET. I dunno why I bothered though, I already have a license. :D
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Thanks... I'll just have to keep trying
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Does this free version of WinRar support 7Zip?
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I've been trying for 5 hours now still no sign, I get as far as reg page and that's about it... : 8) The page just keeps trying to load...Should I leave it to do it's own thing?...Advice please...
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Whew! After soo long, Finally got it...
Can I post the link on another forum?
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Yes, its posted all over the internet. Its not a DC exclusive thing
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OK...Many thanks for the Info Josh...
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7-zip vs WinRAR
One of the advancements of 7-zip is that it utilizes some preprocessors to improve the compressibility of certain types of data (i.e. x86 code - BCJ/BCJ2). In theory, an algorithm targetted towards a particular type of data can perform better than general purpose algorithms, provided sufficient effort is put into the targeted algorithm of course. This is the future of compression algorithms, targetting them towards common data types.
One of the reasons WinRAR is still #1 is that the GUI of 7-zip still has a long way to go to catch up to WinRAR. The console version of 7-zip is also less intuitive to use than WinRAR.
7-zip being Open Source isn't such a big deal. It's code is a mess from hell and the comments seem stripped or non-existant to start with. This attitude of many open source developers that documenting the code is less important than releasing the code I disagree with. The code can always be re-created, but the rationale for certain decisions and design takes longer to infer. Documentation should always be the #1 priority in any project where maintainence and extension by others is desirable. LZMA is a bit cleaner than 7-zip and, being a compression algorith, it is important it's open source, though I'd like to see improved documentation with it too.
Compatibility with existing decompression tools.
RAR has been around for many, many years and still people prefer not to distribute their software with it because it causes end users headaches since RAR is less common than ZIP and not natively supported by XP+.
This is why any algorithm that prevents people from using its decomprssion code freely will NEVER catch on (there are a couple good examples of this -- excellent compression software that things it's a good idea to charge for decompression support, preventing wide adoption of their code from ever happening). But, even algorithms with decoders that are free for anyone to use are still slow to catch on.
Of course, there's always self-extracting archives. These are nice, but there is unfortunately a growing trend to avoid distributing executables due to misconceptions by end users about any download or attachment ending with an executable extension.
The answer? There isn't an easy one. But then maybe there's no problem... this brings us to:
People have an attitude that ZIP (or gzip) is 'good enough'.
Bandwidth and storage are constantly increasing and people often feel even an unrealistically high 30% gain in compression is not worth it, much less more marginal gains. This attitude I don't approve of because it's mostly laziness and when everyone thinks this way you end up with A LOT OF WASTED BANDWIDTH AND STORAGE SPACE. I'm not a fan of waste just because 'we can'. I could now rant about this trend with software developers, and the beauty of uTorrent winning people's hearts based on its minimal resource use, but I'll save that for another rant.
So, WinRAR is king. It may be for some time. 7-zip stands a chance, but it'd stand a bigger chance if the code wasn't so damn messy and the project so unfriendly to new developers.
Disclaimer: These are my opinions and I may be wrong in this or that. If I am, please correct me.
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I got the reg page & got a mail with as app says confusing directions\lack of same
and a link for the download which doesnt work today sofar,
AND it doesnt say if the download-link is good after today...
(says i get two attempts at downloading, be lucky if i get any at this rate :P )
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Easier to pay for it than to go to all this damn trouble.. hell I could dig a ditch and make enough money to buy it in the time it takes to get this free version ;).
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Just got the page to respond. It's non-upgradable anyway.. again, easier to pay for it.
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How can I add support for 7z archives to my application?
One way is to use the 7za.dll (available from sf.net for download). The 7za.dll works via COM interfaces. It, however, doesn't use standard COM interfaces for creating objects. You can find a small example in the source code. A full example is 7-Zip itself, since 7-Zip works via this dll also. There are other applications that use 7za.dll such as WinRAR, PowerArchiver and others.
The other way is to call the command line version: 7za.exe.
-7zip.org
Also, according to this page you can use 7zip without royalty, however, if you modify the 7zip dll source, you have to make the source available to the public. Many applications are using 7za.dll (provided freely by 7zip) and arent paying a royalty. Winrar can add 7zip creation if they wanted without royalty.
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Easier to pay for it than to go to all this damn trouble.. hell I could dig a ditch and make enough money to buy it in the time it takes to get this free version ;).
-db90h
wheres the fecking shovel :)
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I got the reg page & got a mail with as app says confusing directions\lack of same
and a link for the download which doesnt work today sofar,
AND it doesnt say if the download-link is good after today...
(says i get two attempts at downloading, be lucky if i get any at this rate :P )
-tomos
The same happened to me so I did a search on Winrar 3.51...Downloaded the apps and put the reg in and it registered without any problems
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Just got my link! Cool!
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Good to hear it...
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For those of you that have taken advantage of this offer, you can't use the instructions in the email they sent you, once you have that key.
It says to double click the key file but that will result in this error:
(http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6870/rarkeyxj4.th.jpg) (http://img96.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rarkeyxj4.jpg)
What you have to do is make sure you have version 3.51 installed and open it. then drag that key file into it and you are done.
The email gave bad installing info.
-app103
I made rar files open with WINRAR and then I double clicked the rar file I downloaded and it must have automatically imported the registration info for me. So since that happened to me I don't think they meant double click the file inside of the rar file that had the key in it. :)
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I have to agree with db90h on the state of the LZMA source - it's frigging ugly, some of the worst I've seen in a long time. I took a five-minute look at it and decided that I had better things to do than utilizing LZMA compression. The GPL license sucks, and so does the majority of code released under it.
I also agree WinRAR is king - it's got a nice, clean interface, doesn't try to do a lot of weird things, etc. It has UnRar for a lot of platforms, supports all important things on NT (security info, alternate data streams), has extremely good command-line support etc.
One way is to use the 7za.dll (available from sf.net for download). The 7za.dll works via COM interfaces. It, however, doesn't use standard COM interfaces for creating objects.
-Josh
Now how bloody stupid is THAT?
For those of you that have taken advantage of this offer, you can't use the instructions in the email they sent you, once you have that key.
It says to double click the key file but that will result in this error:
-app103
There's many apps (all protected by asprotect, iirc?) that decide to associate themselves with the *.key file extension - pretty lame.
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How can I add support for 7z archives to my application?
One way is to use the 7za.dll (available from sf.net for download). The 7za.dll works via COM interfaces. It, however, doesn't use standard COM interfaces for creating objects. You can find a small example in the source code. A full example is 7-Zip itself, since 7-Zip works via this dll also. There are other applications that use 7za.dll such as WinRAR, PowerArchiver and others.
The other way is to call the command line version: 7za.exe.
-7zip.org
Also, according to this page you can use 7zip without royalty, however, if you modify the 7zip dll source, you have to make the source available to the public. Many applications are using 7za.dll (provided freely by 7zip) and arent paying a royalty. Winrar can add 7zip creation if they wanted without royalty.
-Josh
Yea, I think I was wrong about that. I'll have to take a look more closely at his licensing though. It's licensed under the LGPL, which is more permissive than the GNU. For some reason I was thinking 7-zip was GNU.
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I have to agree with db90h on the state of the LZMA source - it's frigging ugly, some of the worst I've seen in a long time. I took a five-minute look at it and decided that I had better things to do than utilizing LZMA compression. The GPL license sucks, and so does the majority of code released under it.
-f0dder
And if you think the LZMA code is messy, take a look at 7-zip ;p. And, yep, he uses COM style interfaces (pure virtual base classes), but not the COM standard itself. It would be trivial to expose it as a proper COM object, why he doesn't who knows.
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I'm in 2 minds about winrar's free offer.
a. Very nice of them and good luck to you if you got through.
or
b. Very annoying to have wasted so much time trying to get to their page, only to find that it wasn't possible (for me) to get to the next step of having my details accepted. If they are genuinely happy to give away v3.51, why not have the offer open over a week or so? Just a bloody pr stunt that wasted my time.
.... if my students cause me hassles today I'll opt for (b), if they're cooperative etc I'll choose (a)
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If you're on Usenet daily, then WinRAR is the only choice. Squeez (http://www.speedproject.de/enu/squeez/index.html) also creates RAR files, but the RAR format remains proprietary. And by the way, not only is Squeez slick, it can do just about everything you'll ever want from an archiver... for a price. I also like the 7z format, but the 7-Zip archiver app has not improved its usability for several years, and that's aggravating.
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There's another link to get a free WinRAR 3.51 license (non-upgradeable). This site does not seem to be as bogged down as Sunday's:
http://nct.digitalriver.com/fulfill/0233.001 (http://nct.digitalriver.com/fulfill/0233.001)
I have no idea how long it will stay valid.
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There's another link to get a free WinRAR 3.51 license (non-upgradeable). This site does not seem to be as bogged down as Sunday's:
http://nct.digitalriver.com/fulfill/0233.001 (http://nct.digitalriver.com/fulfill/0233.001)
I have no idea how long it will stay valid.
-mwb1100
Thanks for this, got my free license :-[ :) ;D
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In another board users compared their free registration info and it seems everyone got the same key. So why not share this key?
Edit: removed free key. :-[
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I thought the key would be the same for every one... I never bothered to check tho.
As for posting this here.. I don't think it's a good idea. They specifically set a time zone for license
downloads.. and now it's over. I think you should respect the authors way of business if you know
what I mean. Any way, that's what I think - you should atleast complete the sign up info for the free
key, that's the msg I was tryna deliver.. you can unsub any time from your sign up.
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The key is definitely the same for everyone, but it seems they want to control its dissemination to at least build a mailing list to potentially sell a reduced cost upgrade to at a later date. I guess this is the rightful choice of the Winrar team and as such if publishing the key isn't illegal (and I doubt it is as they have effectively made it public domain) it is most likely immoral. That being said, with the problems gaining access to it during the last offer I think many who tried and tried again are more than entitled to it.
Yeah, I'm a mass of contradictions! ;D