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BetterZip 2.1.1

2011-10-01T10:00:00Z

After reorganizing my build environment, a few things got jumbled up resulting in a regression bug in the SIT archive handling module in BetterZip 2.1. Also the new French help got copied over the English help. I have fixed it now and checked everything twice. Speaking of the help system: does anyone actually read this?

Bug fixes:

Split size is now base 10 (1MB = 1,000,000 Bytes) like the rest of the application.
Search field was invisible on Mac OS X 10.6 under certain conditions.
Fixed the update mechanism. It will work again from now on.
Fixed a possible crash when creating previews.
Extracting all archives in a folder didn’t work under certain conditions.
The English help was replaced by the French help.
Some strings were not correctly translated in the French localization.

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BetterZip 2.1

2011-09-20T08:49:00Z

BetterZip 2 is selling very well since its release in June and I have got a lot of praise and great user feedback. Of course, the new version came with a few bugs, even some that could crash the application, but I think I have fixed most of them – at least those that were reported. Thank you for that!

New Features:

Using the service “Extract with BetterZip” you can now extract all archives in a folder hierarchy.
If files are selected in the archive window, presets now only extract those instead of all files. Hold down Shift to extract all anyway.
Enhanced “replace existing files” dialog: it now allows to merge extracted items into existing folders, keep both versions or replace the existing version with the one from the archive.

Enhancements:

Enhanced accessibility.
Improved SIT file handling.
The favorites sidebar is now populated in the background and there is no longer a delay when starting BetterZip.
Re-added “Terminate after last window closed” option.
Enabled the additional parameters field for tar archives.
Holding down the option key now shows a save panel even for services or direct extraction.
The location preset in the save panel is now by default next to original/archive.

Bug fixes:

Fixed two bugs that could lead to a crash.
BetterZip now uses the original encryption method when resaving an archive, i.e., header encryption will be retained.
Splitting 7z archives was off by a factor 1024.
The Save toolbar button wasn’t correctly initialized with the default preset.
Cancelling archive creation through a service in the save panel no longer displays a confusing message.
Moving or deleting the external rar program could lead to a crash when saving with a preset with rar format.
The progress bar no longer gets stuck when hiding BetterZip while extracting large archive.
Extracting an archive via context menu while the same archive was open in BZ could crash BetterZip.
Fixed a problem with extracting read-only folders in archives.

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BetterZip 2 - The Next Generation of Archiving

2011-06-22T08:23:34Z

A bold headline, but I am incredibly proud of the new version and finally getting it out into the world and into your hands. It was a lot of work for me and a long time of waiting for you, but I think it was worth the effort and the patience.

Upgrades for current license owners are $9.99 per license. To give you the chance to switch to the Mac App Store, if you prefer, for a limited time the price in the Mac App Store will be $9.99 as well. For customers who bought BetterZip on or after September 1st, 2009 the upgrade is free. Woohoo!

The list of new features is rather long, so let me introduce you to the most important ones here. I have sorted them in order of importance (for me).

A new user interface

BetterZip sports a clean new user interface which will look familiar to most Mac users. Similar to the Finder it has a sidebar on the left side into which you can drop your favorite folders for archives, e.g., your downloads folder. This favorites list is populated using Spotlight and can be filtered very fast.

Quick Look

In addition to the preview (which was also greatly enhanced), BetterZip 2 has Quick Look built-in. Just select a file and press the spacebar.

The BetterZip 2 archive operations queue

BetterZip 2 has a queue for executing multiple archive operations in an ordered way. You can let Mac OS X decide how many operations to run at the same time or set it manually.

A powerful archive password manager

The new archive password manager helps you work with encrypted archives like no other archiver does. You can have BetterZip collect a list of archive passwords in your keychain. These can be used automatically whenever you open an encrypted archive. Alternatively, BetterZip can display them in a list in the password panel, so you can easily choose the one to use.

Edit and update archives

When you open a file in an archive with the View command and edit it with an external editor, BetterZip 2 will detect the changes and give you the option to update the archive.

Presets

BetterZip 2 allows you to create presets for creating and extracting archives. Presets collect all settings that can be applied to an archive, from the destination folder and archive format, to passwords and even a script to execute after the operation completed.

Services

BetterZip 2 offers two configurable services, one for creating and one for extracting archives. Choose a preset for each which can be started through the Services menu, the Finder contextual menu and it can even be given a shortcut key.

Test archives

Quickly test an archive without extracting it to find out whether it is damaged.

More super-ultra power features

BetterZip 2 can filter out extracted files similar to archive creation time cleaning. No more Thumbs.db and other unwanted stuff from other systems!

Add custom options to archiving operations, e.g., specify the dictionary size or build solid archives. Or, if you don’t care about these techy details, let BetterZip choose the best options.

There are many more enhancements. See them while you use the new BetterZip.

64-bit

Yes, BetterZip is completely 64-bit now.

Five Years of BetterZip

2011-05-04T08:23:34Z

Five years ago today I released BetterZip 1.0. The first release note is still online. Looking back at that meager first version is a bit embarassing, but I guess that every evolving product sends the same shivers down their creators spines in retrospect. It could only open and create zip files and a few tar files. No options, no previews, no rar, no 7-zip. Since then BetterZip became one of the most powerful archivers for the Mac and yet it remained light-weight and easy to use.

To celebrate this anniversary, BetterZip is 50% off for the next five days, until Monday, May 9th. That means you can get it for US$9.99 in my web store and in the Mac App Store.

I will also let you in on a little secret today: BetterZip 2.0 is right around the corner and will be available soon. There are many enhancements that will make the current version look rather dated. Which, I admit, it is. The first thing that you will notice is, of course, the new user interface. The current version of BetterZip uses drawers for its filebrowser and the preview. If you look at other applications in the Mac universe, drawers aren’t used anymore. BetterZip 2 does away with them as well:

Another cool feature is Quick Look inside archives. It duplicates the functionality of the preview a little bit, but I find myself using both features in my day-to-day archive handling quite regularly. Hitting the space bar is deeply imprinted in my muscle memory.

There is also a new queueing mechanism for batch extracting and compressing archives from the Finder in an ordered, civilized way.

A great number of users asked for a way to reuse passwords, so I built a password manager for BetterZip that no other archiver in the world has. Well maybe there is one, but it was hiding under a rock in Greenland. Although in Greenland it need not even hide under a rock. With the lowest population density in the world, you need to search 40 square kilometres to find one person. And archivers are much smaller than persons… But I digress, where was I?

There are two more big and many smaller changes, but for these to be revealed you will have to wait a little longer. By the way, I am looking for beta testers. If you are eager to put the new version through its paces and give me feedback on it, please send me an e-mail. The feedback part in the deal here is really important. If you find a bug and don’t report it, I’ll name it after you. ;)

My upgrade policy has always been like this: When you buy BetterZip you get all upgrades (including major versions) within a year for free. That’s a pretty long period compared to the grace period most other developers give their customers. Now, I released the last update more than a year ago and I want to give all users who purchased on or after September 1st 2009 free access to version 2. So, this is how it’s going to be. All other registered users can get the new version for a 10$ upgrade fee.

I am already looking forward to see what BetterZip 6.2, aged 10, will look like. You too can influence this, just send me an e-mail!

BetterZip in the Mac App Store

2011-03-08T09:23:34Z

Woohoo! BetterZip was just approved by Apple and has finally landed in the Mac App Store.

Let me use this opportunity to lay out my plans on how BetterZip is going to be sold and updated in the future.

From now on, you can choose whether you purchase BetterZip in the Mac App Store or in the MacItBetter web store. If you buy a license in the Mac App Store, you will get your updates from there, if you buy from my own web store, BetterZip will use its built-in update checker to notify you of updates and install them, if you so choose. Besides this, the two versions will be identical. Unfortunately, you can’t switch between the two, at least at this time.

The advantage of the MAS is that it offers the easiest possible buying experience and a central application update system maintained by Apple. The disadvantage is that all updates have to be approved by Apple, and there will be times when this takes a few days or even weeks while customers of my own web store get important updates immediately.

Another question is upgrade pricing. Minor updates (e.g., 1.8.3, 2.4, 3.2.1) will always be free for the owners of the corresponding major version (1.x, 2.x, 3.x) while major new versions will be available at a discount for users of my own web store. (The one-year-free-updates policy will stay in place, of course.) Unfortunately, the Mac App Store doesn’t support upgrade pricing, so MAS customers will have to pay fully for every major version, unless Apple adds this functionality. Notice that after nearly five years, BetterZip has still to take the first major version step. (This is not a legally binding commitment to not charging for upgrades for five years ever again. ;-) I just promise not to release three major versions per year.)

I like comparison tables with check marks, so I made one:

	Web Store	Mac App Store
Secure Payment	✔	✔
One-click purchase		✔
Automatic update mechanism	✔	✔
Central update mechanism		✔
You get updates as soon as I release them.	✔
Major version upgrades are free for a year and discounted ever after.	✔
Minor version upgrades are free.	✔	✔

If you have further questions, don’t be shy!

Coincidentally, my friend Wolfgang from ARTIS Software and the Iconfactory have released their new photo effect application Flare. A fun digital darkroom. Go, check it out!