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7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

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Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#151

Post by Night_Thastus »

landl0rd wrote: post #148
Night_Thastus wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As mentioned in another comment, zip support actually goes further back as far as '98, but only Windows 11 added support for handling other formats like RAR/7-Zip/.tar/.tar.gz/.tar.bz2/etc. That allows it to be a default that 'just works' for most people without installing anything extra. The vast majority of users don't care about the extra performance or functionality of a tool like 7-zip. They just need a way to o…

Windows zip is not in fact good enough. I've run into weird, buggy behavior, hanging on extract, all sorts of nonsense. I can see the argument that a universally-adopted solution is better, but that's different from windows just not working.

I'm not saying I would ever use it. I'm saying that for casual non-power users, it's good enough. They work with it and if it breaks once in a blue moon they don't care. They just want it to open the files they get and give them a way to send files compressed.

That is enough to bite into 7-Zip's share of users.

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#152

Post by starkrights »

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #22

Wow, a program that doesn't matter anymore has been very very minimally enhanced on a platform that doesn't matter anymore, benefitting the 7 users that have more than 64 real cores with Windoes and are regularly compressing archives so large that it doesn't drastically reduce the compression ratio to split it into more thsn 64 sections. Posting this link to hn has consumed more human potential than the thing it is d…

> a program that doesn’t matter anymore

The rest of this comment has, though gratuitously snarky, a point, but I don’t think claiming that 7zip is irrelevant as an independent statement is even remotely coherent.

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#153

Post by redeeman »

Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote: post #91
redeeman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are A LOT of zip files using lzma in the wild. also, how about people learn to use updated software? should newer video compression technologies not be allowed in mkv/mp4. if you cant open it, well.. then stop using 90ies winzip

mkv or mp4 with h264 and aac is good enough. mp3 is good enough. jpeg is good enough. zip with deflate is also good enough.

h264 is not good enough for many things

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#154

Post by redeeman »

landl0rd wrote: post #145
redeeman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are A LOT of zip files using lzma in the wild. also, how about people learn to use updated software? should newer video compression technologies not be allowed in mkv/mp4. if you cant open it, well.. then stop using 90ies winzip

No. You can't get people to use updated software. You can't get a number of people to update past windows 7. This has been and will likely remain a persistent issue, and it's sure not one you're going to fix. All it will do is limit your ability to work with people. This isn't a hill on which you should die.

if they want to open certain files, they will update

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#155

Post by redeeman »

1over137 wrote: post #87
redeeman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are A LOT of zip files using lzma in the wild. also, how about people learn to use updated software? should newer video compression technologies not be allowed in mkv/mp4. if you cant open it, well.. then stop using 90ies winzip

>how about people learn to use updated software? How about software developers learn to keep software working on old OSes and old hardware?

what software doesnt support OSs that are in active SECURITY support?

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#156

Post by redeeman »

mananaysiempre wrote: post #129
RealStickman_ wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supporting old APIs and additional legacy ways of doing things has a real cost in maintenance.

So does not supporting them, but the developer gets to externalize those.

the developer is hired by someone that gets to make that decision. Ultimately the customer does. Thats why some people spend extreme resources on legacy crap, because someone has deemed it worth it.

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#157

Post by cm2187 »

rf15 wrote: post #13
d33 wrote: post #10

I worry that 7-Zip is going to lose relevance because lack of zstd support. zlib's performance is intolerable for large files and zlib-ng's SIMD implementation only helps here a bit. Which is a shame, because 7-Zip is a pretty amazing container format, especially with its encryption and file splitting capabilities.

Not that many people care about zstd; I would assume most 7-zip users care about the convenience of the gui.

in fact this is the first time I even hear about it, and I am semi-IT litterate. The prevalence of a compression standard is about how ubiquitous it is. For that one, I would vote "not even on the radar yet".

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#158

Post by mixmastamyk »

Const-me wrote: post #28
zik wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. That's surprisingly lame.

The NT kernel dates back to 1993. Computers didn’t exceed 64 logical processors per system until around 2014. And doing it back then required a ridiculously expensive server with 8 Intel CPUs. The technical decision Microsoft made initially worked well for over two decades. I don’t think it was lame; I believe it was a solid choice back then.

SGI Origin did by 1996.

Though MS ported NT to a number of systems (mips, alpha, ppc) it wasn’t able to play in the very big leagues until later.

I agree it was a reasonable choice at the time. Few were getting mileage out of that many CPUs back then.

Re: 7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression

#160

Post by landl0rd »

redeeman wrote: post #154
landl0rd wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You can't get people to use updated software. You can't get a number of people to update past windows 7. This has been and will likely remain a persistent issue, and it's sure not one you're going to fix. All it will do is limit your ability to work with people. This isn't a hill on which you should die.

if they want to open certain files, they will update

No, they're just not going to work with you.
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