I think raising these concerns is fair in a world where nearly all Unix-related source code and binaries is distributed in (g/bzipped) TAR format. Unfortunately

I think raising these concerns is fair in a world where nearly all Unix-related source code and binaries is distributed in (g/bzipped) TAR format. Unfortunately, the author does not really explain why this is and what is wrong with ZIP (e.g. why a new format is needed). I guess that one of the reasons for TAR's dominance is the lack of a free alternative? Apparently ZIP is not free enough (as I understand from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_(file_format)#Standardization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_(file_format)#Standardizati...). TAR is old however, and if ZIP cannot take its place, coming up with something new is not such a bad idea. I think Apple's DMG/UDIF file format deserves to be mentioned as well: it addresses all the concerns mentioned (it is essentially a mountable filesystem). I'm pretty sure there is a lot to be learned from that.