<s>
ZipIt	B-Application
is	O
a	O
shareware	B-License
data	B-General_Concept
compression	I-General_Concept
utility	O
for	O
archiving	O
and	O
compressing	O
files	B-Operating_System
on	O
the	O
Classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
highly	O
compatible	O
with	O
PKZIP	B-Application
on	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
machines	O
,	O
reading	O
and	O
writing	O
those	O
files	B-Operating_System
as	O
well	O
as	O
performing	O
any	O
necessary	O
line	O
ending	O
conversion	O
or	O
MacBinary	B-General_Concept
encoding	O
to	O
ensure	O
the	O
files	B-Operating_System
were	O
usable	O
on	O
both	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
had	O
an	O
advanced	O
user	B-Application
interface	I-Application
and	O
offered	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
automation	O
features	O
,	O
including	O
AppleScript	B-Application
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
released	O
in	O
1993	O
,	O
the	O
latest	O
version	O
of	O
ZipIt	B-Application
is	O
version	O
2.2.2	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
late	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
unique	O
feature	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
Mac	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
was	O
its	O
use	O
of	O
forks	B-Application
,	O
essentially	O
two	O
separate	O
files	B-Operating_System
that	O
the	O
Finder	B-Application
maintained	O
the	O
illusion	O
of	O
being	O
a	O
single	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Files	B-Operating_System
that	O
were	O
copied	O
to	O
other	O
storage	O
media	O
automatically	O
copied	O
both	O
forks	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Operating	O
systems	O
that	O
did	O
not	O
support	O
this	O
feature	O
risked	O
the	O
problem	O
of	O
transmitting	O
only	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
two	O
forks	B-Application
,	O
producing	O
an	O
unusable	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
led	O
to	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
archive	O
formats	O
that	O
combined	O
the	O
two	O
forks	B-Application
along	O
with	O
any	O
extended	O
metadata	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
file	O
suitable	O
for	O
hosting	O
on	O
other	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
PKZIP	B-Application
archive	O
format	O
did	O
include	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
features	O
intended	O
to	O
help	O
support	O
other	O
file	B-Application
systems	I-Application
like	O
the	O
Mac	O
,	O
including	O
things	O
like	O
longer	O
filenames	O
and	O
some	O
basic	O
metadata	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
it	O
did	O
not	O
support	O
forks	B-Application
,	O
and	O
therefore	O
was	O
not	O
directly	O
capable	O
of	O
supporting	O
Mac	O
files	B-Operating_System
in	O
ZIP	O
archives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
did	O
not	O
present	O
a	O
major	O
problem	O
in	O
many	O
use-cases	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
Mac	O
had	O
archive	O
utilities	O
that	O
did	O
support	O
these	O
features	O
,	O
like	O
StuffIt	B-Application
and	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Notable	O
among	O
these	O
were	O
FidoNet	O
mailers	O
and	O
offline	B-Protocol
mail	I-Protocol
readers	I-Protocol
like	O
the	O
QWK	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
those	O
times	O
when	O
Mac	O
users	O
had	O
to	O
exchange	O
simple	O
files	B-Operating_System
,	O
like	O
a	O
text	B-General_Concept
file	I-General_Concept
,	O
with	O
a	O
PC	O
user	O
,	O
utilities	O
like	O
UnZip	O
and	O
MacZip	O
worked	O
with	O
single	O
files	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
ZipIt	B-Application
was	O
introduced	O
to	O
address	O
this	O
problem	O
by	O
explicitly	O
modeling	O
the	O
program	O
's	O
user	B-Application
interface	I-Application
after	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
,	O
which	O
was	O
lauded	O
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
easiest	O
to	O
use	O
archivers	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ZipIt	B-Application
essentially	O
replaced	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
's	O
own	O
internal	O
compression	O
system	O
with	O
PKZIPs	B-Application
,	O
producing	O
a	O
program	O
that	O
looked	O
similar	O
but	O
read	O
and	O
wrote	O
ZIP	O
files	B-Operating_System
instead	O
of	O
CPT	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ZipIt	B-Application
also	O
included	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
automation	O
features	O
,	O
notably	O
support	O
for	O
AppleScript	B-Application
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
it	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
programs	O
like	O
Freddie	O
,	O
a	O
QWK	O
reader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
setting	O
in	O
ZTerm	B-Operating_System
allowed	O
downloaded	O
ZIP	O
files	B-Operating_System
to	O
automatically	O
be	O
associated	O
with	O
ZipIt	B-Application
,	O
making	O
download-and-open	O
a	O
simple	O
task	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
version	O
did	O
not	O
support	O
hierarchical	O
directories	O
,	O
instead	O
,	O
it	O
encoded	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
files	B-Operating_System
into	O
a	O
single-level	O
archive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
addressed	O
in	O
the	O
1.2.x	O
versions	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
version	O
1.2.6	O
of	O
1994	O
was	O
the	O
final	O
classic-MacOS	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
supported	O
both	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
9	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
tests	O
with	O
1.1.1	O
,	O
ZipIt	B-Application
consistently	O
outperformed	O
both	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
and	O
StuffIt	B-Application
in	O
terms	O
of	O
compression	O
,	O
by	O
about	O
10%	O
on	O
average	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
speed	O
was	O
about	O
the	O
same	O
as	O
StuffIt	B-Application
,	O
making	O
it	O
about	O
half	O
the	O
speed	O
of	O
the	O
very	O
fast	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
