Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

*whirrr* (that's my can opener. here's the worms.)


I use a Mac G4 at home. I'm aware that much of the world-at-large uses Wintel computers.
I'm at the computer lab of the computer training place I've been attending. I emailed a "zip" file (encoded using ZipIt, the Zip utility for the Mac) to myself and discovered when I tried to open it here that the copy of WinZip was missing several parts. I diligently downloaded each missing file (there were 8) and finally got the program to run, where it immediately went thru a series of the usual Microsoft helper screens instead of just unzipping my file. arrgh!

Why would a software engineer program a simple application to use multiple, easily-trashed exteporaneous files and be excessively complicated for just a simple procedure?
Is there some element of logic I've never learned that contributes to this sort of thing?
I know about (and suffer from) Microsoft bloat, but ye gads, this was too much. I'm so glad I use a computer I don't have to fight with.

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Prison
Posts: 421

Welcome!

Welcome to the club, fellow Mac user.

Now you realize why people who hate computers usually use Windows.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Those extra files are probably libraries of functions. Having them as extraneous files and not included in teh program allows other programs to use the libraries as well. So if there's a library X that has a few functions that are needed by winzip and then another program can share X with winzip and not have to duplicate the same code. Thus using less space on your hard drive.

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"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 347

ashmed...

you might want to try using Stuffit to create a ZIP file. I have never had a problem opening a Mac Zip file (created by Stuffit) in Windows.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Creole....
Yorik has the mac....
I have a PC....

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You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

quote:

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Originally posted by creole
ashmed...

you might want to try using Stuffit to create a ZIP file. I have never had a problem opening a Mac Zip file (created by Stuffit) in Windows.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Posts: 151

Microsoft bashing is hip

- Microsoft does not make Winzip.

- I have downloaded and installed Winzip on many computers, and it is not necessary to download multiple parts to make the program work. Just go here, and click download now. All needed files will be downloaded.

- Winzip has the wizard for novice users, and the standard interface for non-novice users. It is just a matter of turning the wizard off. There are also many other unzipping programs compatible with Windows to choose from if you don't like either of the Winzip interfaces. In fact, WinME has unzipping built in.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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Creole, do you mean Stuffit Deluxe or DropStuff?

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

quote:

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Originally posted by na2rboy
- Microsoft does not make Winzip.

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okeydoke. I didn't pay attention, so I sit corrected.

quote:

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- I have downloaded and installed Winzip on many computers, and it is not necessary to download multiple parts to make the program work.

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The program already existed on the lab computer, but was missing all its "parts." I didn't know it was going to be so many parts, because each time I tried to run it, it would tell me another missing file. It was like having to make a separate trip to the store for each ingredient in the sauce.

quote:

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- Winzip has the wizard for novice users, and the standard interface for non-novice users. It is just a matter of turning the wizard off. There are also many other unzipping programs compatible with Windows to choose from if you don't like either of the Winzip interfaces. In fact, WinME has unzipping built in.

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It's WinNT here. WinZip was already on the computer, I'd have preferred PKUnzip which I've used in the past (and find easy to use), but whadyagoando.
Assuming PKUnzip still exists.

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
DropZip: http://www.aladdinsys.com/dropzip/maclogin.html

Much better than ZipIt.

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I'll come back and pick tht up when I get home (if I don't already have it and don't know it! )
I only need it when I need to compress for Windows users anyway.

quote:

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As for the multiple files issue, I'm assuming that they were all DLLs.

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Five DLL's, three help files, a .com and a "pif" (alias to us Maccies). and a partridge in a pear tree.

quote:

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DLLs are a pain, but aren't a whole lot different than Extensions on a Mac. Note that stuffit on the Mac is made up of a handful of files and extensions.

When one has problems with DLLs it is usually due to sloppy programming and not necessarily due to Windows, itself.

ANY lab computer is going to be troublesome...Mac or PC.

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aye. I agree on all three counts. I knew in the back of my mind about Stuffit, but guess I was too frazzed over my annoyance to think about it.

I once repaired someone's virus afflicted Windows machine simply by replacing a corrupted DLL that the startup sequence was complaining about. (The virus had already been cleaned up, this was the aftermath.)

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

On last thought...I try and get people to use Stuffit these days as opposed to ZIP files. PC and Mac people can easily download Stuffit expander for free.

Stuffit tends to have better compression and better user interfaces, IMHO.

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
On last thought...I try and get people to use Stuffit these days as opposed to ZIP files. PC and Mac people can easily download Stuffit expander for free.

Stuffit tends to have better compression and better user interfaces, IMHO.

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 172

"Horrifying Windows experience" - isn't that redundant?

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Galley

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 16

It sounds to me that you didn't have a "Horrifying Windows Experience" but you had a run in with a Windows machine that was badly "hosed"

It sounds like someone deleted some of the wrong files on that machine at one time. Which is a downside to a computer in a training room that 100's of people have probably used.

If I started deleting files from your Macs do you think they would still function properly the next time you sat down?

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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Are there free Stuffit compressors on both Mac and PC?

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__________________
We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
On last thought...I try and get people to use Stuffit these days as opposed to ZIP files. PC and Mac people can easily download Stuffit expander for free.

Stuffit tends to have better compression and better user interfaces, IMHO.

---

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

quote:

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Originally posted by timbob
It sounds to me that you didn't have a "Horrifying Windows Experience" but you had a run in with a Windows machine that was badly "hosed"

It sounds like someone deleted some of the wrong files on that machine at one time. Which is a downside to a computer in a training room that 100's of people have probably used.

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I'm pretty sure they use Norton Ghost to keep the lab machines consistent, but I don't know how that affects the "C" drive. Point taken though.

quote:

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If I started deleting files from your Macs do you think they would still function properly the next time you sat down?

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well, aside from my desire to bust the fingers of anyone who messes with my computer ... depends on the files. This is why I backup at least once a week.

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