14 DAY TRIAL // Archives and the programs that can create and use them are a reality that won't go away that fast, no matter how fast the computer world is evolving. This is the only reason that makes new programs belonging to this family to keep popping up like mushrooms after the rain, and today it's time for another one.
Today's subject is called Simplyzip, and what I have here is the latest beta of an early version, 1.1, but that shouldn't matter much, since I've seen great 0.X programs and also awful applications having version labels like 6-7-8.x or so...
The package that I got is a bit larger than 2MB in size, and the setup process goes on without any special problem. So far, everything's just fine, but this is where the hard part starts, because I found this program to go way below my expectations. Why?
First of all, the interface is what I look at, as usual. Nothing special about it: just a menu bar, a toolbar with big, uninspired and extremely ugly icons and a work area that looks like an Excel sheet. The toolbar has an area at the right side that houses three items, the Language drop down menu, About and Close buttons, their titles being thrown there just to get the job done, without the smallest alignment or tendency to try and get things right.
After this unfortunate first encounter, I try to open a new archive. Things look good here, there are almost twenty file formats supported for opening and eleven for saving. The bad part in this area is that I found an issue that disgusts me every time I happen to run into it - English language, please! "All support archive" should be "all supported archives", I guess, and I am sure that my guess is right this time.
The notification windows are ugly and their messages also look like they were made by an intelligent computer translator, and we all know that computer AI still has a long road ahead...for example, after unpacking a file I get a message that says "extracting finish". Come on, you have to be joking!!!
I tried to add files to several archive types and I think I'll drop this task, because all I get is errors. No, I don't want to search for additional DLL files or anything else, I downloaded a 2MB so-called "archiver" and I want it to work! But maybe I am asking too much, since the program is plagued with so many errors, that I lost their count.
The SFX converter seems to work with LHA archives, although it has shown an error message right after opening the file.
The Identify tool can be used to identify archives that may have their names changed or intentionally renamed the wrong way, but you have to click too many times to use it. Anyway, the good part is that you get this task done without any errors (at least I didn't get any error with it, thank you, it worked!).
This program can encrypt files, split them using an external tool and inside the External progs menu you can find links to a bunch of external tools, most of them not working, since I don't have them installed on my computer already. The EasySplit program can be extremely useful, but its interface is really ugly, so you get hot and cold sides here too...
This is it, over! If you have 5 minutes to spare, go ahead, some of this program's functions can be useful, but unfortunately what I am looking for when checking archivers is not in the way it should be here...
The Good
Simplyzip has good file support and few interesting features, like its abilities to split files, convert and crypt archives. One more good thing about it is the price - the time you spend using it, since the program is completely free.
The Bad
The interface is really ugly, the English language used looks like being written by a Shanghai cab driver, and you get assaulted by errors when trying to do things that you usually do with a program like this. There is no Help content, and easy things are made hard by the way things work here...
The Truth
This is the worst beta program that I have seen and also the worst archiver that I've ever used. Its good parts are overwhelmed by its drawbacks, so if you feel patient and calm, take your time and give it a chance, but I can't promise that you won't be disappointed...
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
