To be fair, there are better ways to decompress files than compressed folders. :)

dude you're a sheep.

Use winrar. Compression ratio is frequently TWICE as good as Zip.

I can compress backups- using database servers-- to a 20:1 compression ratio sometimes.. using WinRar.. and I swear winzip doesn't give me a 6x compression ratio for the same file.

So the answer to the proverbial 'how do you transfer 1tb database over a T1 in 24 hours' involves:

a) breaking it into multiple files using winrar
b) one level up on the compression ratio.. maybe even 2 (most database servers these days- in the mid level- would be 4x4, so it should be able to handle it quickly)
c) start moving portions of the file across the T1
d) start uncompressing when you start getting pieces.

I just don't think that WinZip would be able to match this-- maybe you should email www.anandtech.com and ask them-- once and for all -- to solve this age-old question.

the point of the matter is that Rar is MUCH better compression ratio for everything that I do.

And I think that-- one of the things that MS should do to make it more palatable- is such that _EVERY_ single place that MS does compression-- from CompressedFolders in Windows to Ooxml in Office to IIS 6.0 HTML compression-- I think that it should be multiplied by something of the scale of directX-- so that-- when IIS 6.0 'is not compressing WinRar strongly' we can plug in our own Rar Format algorithms on both end and benefit from our own compression preferences.

Microsoft literally has 'compression' components in about 20000000 different places.. and I think that taking all the little pieces-- and bringing it together into a DirectX like model-- would make a lot more sense.

BECAUSE RAR IS INHERENTLY BETTER THAN ZIP.

More importantly-- if RAR is better than Zip; I should be able to tell Windows to use Rar compression for Intranet applications through IIS 6.0 for example.

Because compression is one of those thnigs-- when we have quad core desktops and our upload speeds are limited to 384mbit--

COMPRESSION BECOMES IMPORTANT.

Aaron, obviously you did not bother to read my post before you went completely freaking nutjob. It is good that you love rar so much. I'm sure its great. Its just a waste of my damn time when I'm dealing with a 15k archive.

great post dude

I hate winrar with a passion. I absolutely hate having to add useless programs to Windows. Nothing worse than having to go through that clunky winrar interface when I could just right click, drag, extract, done. Even worse is how insidious the winrar program is and how it takes over the computer, I don't want to use winrar to unzip .zip files. I could care less how inferior .zips are, hell I would care less if they don't compress anything at all. They could be larger than uncompressed for all I care. I just want to right click, extract, done, no extra gui crap. Take your superior compression and stuff it.

There always crack version of winrar. Pay nothing at all. So don't think everyone is stupid