The Implicit Message of ZIPPED Files: "We Don't Want Your Money. Go Away."
Oct. 9, 2007
To ZIP a program for downloading is to walk away from money unless the program automatically unzips.
With bandwidth cheap, there is no excuse to ZIP a file.
When you do it, you say: "We are poor. We cannot afford the bandwidth. We are barely surviving. We may be out of business next week."
When you ZIP a file that does not unzip automatically, you are asking the trial user to do extra work that he may not understand. You may even be forcing him to download a third-party UNZIP program, possibly that he must pay for. He may not know how to use it.
To become dependent on a third party to make your program operational is simply suicidal. It is user-unfriendly.
The user does not need you. After years of bad experiences, he does not trust you. He knows programmers are contemptuous of users. He can go elsewhere.
If your ZIPped files do not automatically unzip, find a better way to distribute your program.