The last time I downloaded the Mac version it didn't work.

ZIP is incorporated into the shells for XP, Vista, and OSX so it seems like there's little reason not to use it. All the operating systems in question have native support for it.

My 2 cents, anyway. 

What does the second link point to?

Who can make a functional Mac version? 

Well, the source code is irrelevant because IMO this piece of software is irrelevant. There is no advantage to using it anymore.

Unless I'm wrong. If someone can make a compelling case for using a separate file compression program when the operating system supports one natively, I'd love to hear it.

Really, the only reason we're even using ZIP is because it's a convenient packaging mechanism to get stuff onto the web and off of it again. The compression is almost a secondary concern, especially when it comes to something as small as a Quake demo. 

But I think it would be easier to bury the thing if everyone has the capability to open a .dz file.

Im all up for not using dzip format anymore!
But there will still be demos on the net which are in that format.
I intend to resolutely refrain from creating anymore .dz files, and use zip instead.

How about this - someone make a Mac version which can ONLY exctract .dz files, and not create them... ? 

That's only relevant if Mac people are dying to open the old demos. I don't think they are. The old demos can stay in DZ, it doesn't matter. 

We had this discussion in some other thread recently and the conclusion was that dzip is obsolete by now.

I am all for 7z as it is a great and open format. But even zip would be more easy nowadays. 

7zip is best. I think the only reason people still want to use dzip is because you don't have to extract it with some engines. 

What 7zip? What's wrong with plain old, fully supported, don't have to install anything to use it, ZIP? 

 

7z compresses much much better but I always forget how it also takes longer, heh. 

But 7z is a lot slower in actually extracting things in my experience, it's usually faster to download the larger file of a zip and have it decompressed soon. 

"30% Worse Compression"

OK, fair enough. Can you explain how that matters for Quake demos? 

20mb demo files -> .dz: 2.65mb, .zip (7zip): 2.61mb, .7z: 1.81mb.

Note that 7zip's regular ZIP compression is also better than those of other programs. Apart from that it's freeware, supports many other formats, works on various platforms (Mac versions ftw), has a better shell integration, and and and. It's such a dream. Like Harrison Ford. 

It doesn't really matter for Quake demos in the age of broadband internet. A few 100KB are neglectable. But in an ideological discussion every single bit counts. 

Well, whatever people go with is fine as long as I can double click it on a freshly installed Mac and have it unpack properly. That's all I care about. :) 

All the Quaddicted descriptions fit in a 700 Kilobyte ZIP or a 170 Kilobyte 7z. 

Which is a download speed difference of about a half second. :) 

Depends of you link speed ;) 

There's still quite a few out there on dialup.

For big packs its a real saver as well. 

several months ago here that a programmer involved with dzip was a virus writer? I wish I could be more specific but I don't use dzip so I likely just browsed through that post. 

And what about rar?