Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

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calima
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by calima »

Counterpoint for 7z: I recently got a 7z file that my 7zr could not open, claiming "unsupported feature", without mentioning what. I updated to the latest 7zr, still failed.

So clearly 7-zip is not compatible with even itself, apparently using some optional filters that are not implemented in all 7-zip versions. That's pretty bad.

(I asked them to resend in a different format. Got a zip, worked fine.)
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Hojo_Norem
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by Hojo_Norem »

I still use RAR myself primarily because I paid for it and I think its GUI is better than 7z for some things.

Unless 7z's GUI has recently been updated, it does not give the options to only compress files which have the archive bit set in a selection, nor does it have the option to clear said bit while compressing. Also, RAR's handling of multipart archives is better - the first file always ends with the .rar extension while 7z ends with .000.
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Sumez
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by Sumez »

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Banshaku
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by Banshaku »

I could ask: why do people still program the nes in 2017? :lol:

There can be many reason, like habit, licensing, performance, whatever. My best guess is habit. Usually unless it's broken you don't stop using what you are used to.
tepples
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by tepples »

Banshaku wrote:I could ask: why do people still program the nes in 2017? :lol:
NES + CRT has measurable advantages over PC + typical PC graphics API + LCD monitor. One is latency. Another is reduced expectations of asset complexity among players compared to a typical PC game. A third is less chance of "but it works on my system!" because of less variability in the environment.

In addition, most of a game can be built and tested with only free software: assembler (such as ca65) + indexed image editor (such as GIMP) + asset converters (such as pilbmp2nes) + a debugging emulator (such as FCEUX in Wine). RAR, by contrast, is not free for compression and not free for decompression past version 3. In addition, the non-free implementation has long been broken, and all other things being equal, breakage in non-free software takes longer to resolve.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by rainwarrior »

tepples wrote:A third is less chance of "but it works on my system!" because of less variability in the environment.
I think there's about a thousand threads in this forum that testify otherwise. :P
tepples wrote:all other things being equal, breakage in non-free software takes longer to resolve.
What??? I think you could say "all other things being equal, at least you can try to fix it yourself" but wow I can think of tons VERY LONG standing bugs in open source software that I use. (And tons of cases of fast turnaround in closed software, esp. ones that have optional beta versions etc.)

Though I guess the key factor that isn't ever "equal" is just the available pool of active and interested developers, but that's the most important factor and completely unfair to rule out. Commercial software has effective ways to draw in developer talent!

I totally agree in this specific case that the RAR would be better off with an open spec (or if it got replaced overnight with something that is), and I love open source software in general, but I don't think it's a solution to every problem. As a paradigm it comes with a lot of problems of its own.
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whicker
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by whicker »

I use WinRAR because the last time I looked at 7-zip, its UI experience was atrocious. As most have noted.
WinRAR's shell extension in the right-click menu above a file or folder makes compression effortless and foolproof.
Even dumb things like attempting to compress a disk volume will come up with the right results.
It is also quite fast.

I started to intentionally use archive files other than zip because I hate how Windows tried to treat zip files as folders, if no other compression program is associated with zip archives, causing all sorts of support nightmares of people double-clicking on a file inside the "zipper folder".
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TmEE
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by TmEE »

I ended up unregistering the shell extensions that allow windows to see into zip archives, but so that searches wouldn't look into archives making them much faster.
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Marscaleb
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Re: Why do people still use RAR in 2017?

Post by Marscaleb »

I paid twenty bucks for the full version AND I'M GONNA GET MY MONEY'S WORTH, DAMMIT!
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