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The WinRAR approach

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Re: The WinRAR approach

#31

Post by badsectoracula »

fortran77 wrote: post #7
IncreasePosts wrote: post #2

Does anyone have any estimates for how much money WinRAR has made over the years, and for whom? Is it just a one man shop, a big company with multiple developers, or what?

There are some clues: https://x.com/WinRAR_RARLAB/status/1703723906945691890 Most of their revenue comes from corporate licenses.

I find it amusing that, of all things, WinRAR has a community manager and said community manager has fully embraced the meme culture - and there is even merchandise[0] for it.

[0] https://in.tern.et/collections/winrar (linked by the official twitter)

Re: The WinRAR approach

#32

Post by Tallain »

aquir wrote: post #24

WinRAR is one of the tools what I'm missing a lot since I've moved to MacOS. The other one is Total Commander...

I use Commander One (https://commander-one.com/) on MacOS as a Total Commander replacement and it's good enough.

There's also a free version with a few features restricted here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/commander-one-file-manager/id1...

Re: The WinRAR approach

#33

Post by wvbdmp »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #15

> If you're familiar with WinRAR, the Windows file compression tool, you'll know where this is going. WinRAR became infamous for offering a "30-day trial" that never actually expired. I remember Paint Shop Pro being even more famous for this. I certainly got to day five hundred and something of the 30 day trial. I seem to remember an interview with the creator where he was grateful even to users that didn't pay becau…

I used to love PSP back in the day. Is it still any good? I don’t much like Affinity Photo and unfortunately Adobe is completely insufferable.

Another, more current, example is the audio workstation Reaper. After the generous 60-day trial it keeps showing a message about it on every startup that cannot be dismissed for 5 seconds or so, but otherwise remains fully functional.

It’s great and one should totally buy it, of course. Doesn’t break the bank either.

Re: The WinRAR approach

#34

Post by einpoklum »

zerr wrote: post #21

Don't forget that WinRAR comes from 90s eastern European/xUSSR cultural background, where nobody paid for IP, for something that could be copied. Nobody would use it otherwise. I'm pretty sure even the authors used "pirated" copies of OS/compilers to produce WinRAR.

> European/xUSSR cultural background, where nobody paid for IP, for something that could be copied

Isn't that more of the global culture? I mean, ok, not in business environments, but for most people around the world? Only a small fraction of people can afford buying software to any significant extent.

Re: The WinRAR approach

#35

Post by LoganDark »

aquir wrote: post #29
LoganDark wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you miss about WinRAR? The ability to view an archive's contents without having to extract it first, and extract individual files? That can be achieved with BetterZip: https://macitbetter.com BetterZip also comes with a Quick Look plugin. > The other one is Total Commander... Maybe check out Transmit by Panic. It's technically a remote file transfer software, but can also be used for the local filesystem. htt…

Cool, I was not aware of BetterZip, looks great! Re TC: I am using CommanderOne, that one gets close to it. Also using Midnight Commander in the Terminal

Huh, CommanderOne is new to me. Thanks

Re: The WinRAR approach

#37

Post by pjmlp »

lifthrasiir wrote: post #12

It is not about goodwill; it is more about making laypersons familiar with the software so that corporate licenses can be sold. This has been a very much established BM for sharewares.

If anything, what we are getting is people trying to make a living from selling software, in post-FOSS realising the reasons of those licenses of yore, and to think twice when choosing a license.

Re: The WinRAR approach

#38

Post by pjmlp »

zerr wrote: post #21

Don't forget that WinRAR comes from 90s eastern European/xUSSR cultural background, where nobody paid for IP, for something that could be copied. Nobody would use it otherwise. I'm pretty sure even the authors used "pirated" copies of OS/compilers to produce WinRAR.

You mean like on HN, a site initially for startups, where every single time there is a post about some tool with payment, there are enough comments about free beer clones?

Because why pay for the work of others, when only we matter.

As someone from southern Europe, where there was hardly any original software being sold during 1980's and 1990's, one thing I gladly do today is to pay for the tools I use in production.

Be it via donations, buying books from key people on the ecosystem, or actually getting a licence.

Re: The WinRAR approach

#39

Post by buran77 »

stingraycharles wrote: post #22
quietbritishjim wrote: post #15

> If you're familiar with WinRAR, the Windows file compression tool, you'll know where this is going. WinRAR became infamous for offering a "30-day trial" that never actually expired. I remember Paint Shop Pro being even more famous for this. I certainly got to day five hundred and something of the 30 day trial. I seem to remember an interview with the creator where he was grateful even to users that didn't pay becau…

Same for MS-DOS, at least in the early years. Microsoft was completely aware just how often it was pirated, even by businesses, but just cared more about market share.

> Same for MS-DOS, at least in the early years

Same for Windows throughout its history, at least for home use. But unlike WinRAR, Windows didn't run on goodwill. MS understood the power of market share and network effects. The staying power of Windows in the enterprise comes from every new hire being familiar with Windows, its concepts, maybe even the tooling. The home user gets its dose for free because the enterprise user (and other shady deals) pays enough to cover for that.

Re: The WinRAR approach

#40

Post by einpoklum »

> WinRAR became infamous for offering a "30-day trial" that never actually expired. Instead of cutting off access or locking features, it simply asked users to consider purchasing it if they found it useful. It ran on goodwill

No, it did not. It ran on annoyance. If you wanted to avoid having to dismiss the "30-day trial" dialog on startup, you needed to pay. And some people paid. I'm not saying that it was immoral, it was just... annoying. Plus, for most (?) of WinRAR's existence, you could really do very well with alternatives such as the 7zip utility - www.7-zip.org , that was perfectly free-as-in-beer.

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