The ZipOMatic Icon
Location in the BeOS:
/beos/system/add-ons/Tracker/ZipOMatic

[F/X: Icon World intro theme music]

[F/X: Applause]

[Fade up houselights to reveal weathered but fashionable host Trent Bafflegaff sitting with this week's guest]

TRENT: Welcome to Icon World! I'm your host, Trent Bafflegaff. Today we're talking with ZipOMatic who - hey wait a minute, haven't I seen you on the show already?

ZipOMatic: No, you're thinking of my identical cousin MakeArchive.

TRENT: Err, what does he do again?

ZipOMatic: He takes files and folders and makes them into a tar archive.

TRENT: Oh, so what do you do?

ZipOMatic: I take files and folders and make them into a zip archive.

TRENT: Isn't that the same thing?

ZipOMatic: Sort of, but not at all.

TRENT: Well, I'm lost.

CAMERAMAN: (whispering to crew) Ok, who had a minute and a half in the pool?

TRENT: What was that?

CAMERAMAN: Nothing, carry on!

ZipOMatic: You see Trent, MakeArchive copies one or more files into another file. This is just a way to group files together; there isn't any compressing going on.

TRENT: What's so good about compression?

ZipOMatic: Well, it saves storage space and makes it easier and quicker to send large files or groups of files across the Internet.

TRENT: I see, so the most important thing to remember about zip archives is that they are smaller.

ZipOMatic: Actually, no.

TRENT: Argh! I hate this job!

ZipOMatic: The most important thing to remember about zip is that it preserves BeOS file attributes.

TRENT: [hurriedly consulting The BeOS Bible] Umm, could you spell that?

ZipOMatic: BeOS File attributes store important information about certain types of BeOS files - for example Person and Email files. Without file attributes, Person files would have no information and you would be unable to query on certain aspects of your email files, such as who sent them and when.

TRENT: Oh, Attributes. I thought you said something else. Of course I know all about those, but thanks for explaining it to our viewers at home.

ZipOMatic: [rolling eyes, if he had any] No problem Trent.

TRENT: So, next question: if you're so useful how come you're not in the Applications menu?

ZipOMatic: It's because I am a Tracker Add-On - simply right-click the files or folder you wish to zip, and select ZipOMatic from the Add-Ons menu. I'll instantly take the files and zip them into an archive named Archive.zip

TRENT: Wait, how do I un-zip that?

ZipOMatic: Just double-click the archive and Expander will take care of it.

TRENT: Who?

ZipOMatic: You know, that guy who used to be in The Village People.

TRENT: Oh him. He scares me a little.

ZipOMatic: I must admit you frighten me at times Trent.

TRENT: And you've never even seen me first thing in the morning!

ZipOMatic: There is a God...

TRENT: Well I see we're out of time so before I start scaring myself, this is Trent Bafflegaff signing off and thanking ZipOMatic for stopping by. See you next time on Icon World!

[F/X: Icon World exit theme music]

[Fade lights]

[Roll credits]