Computing is a relatively young field, but one that advances at such a speed that it seems to have been with us all our lives. And is that cybernetics has revolutionized everything in recent decades, managing to change the world and break space-time barriers to connect human beings in a way that was unthinkable until half a century ago. Computers multiply their power every few years, inventions and technological advances that seem unattainable become very popular after a short time, and today any of us can have the best applications and electronic devices at prices for all audiences. In fact, many of those applications that we use on a daily basis are even free . It is true that most of them include advertisements, or are used to get our email and send us spam emails. But the service they offer is still totally free, which is appreciated.
There are applications that have two formats of this type, a free and free version , with certain capabilities obviously capped, and another paid version that allows us to enjoy the program without limitations, with certain advantages that can be interesting. Services like Spotify work this way, in a kind of freemium format that really works for them. There are also totally free services, such as Google Maps, that actually serve for the parent company to get our data and “traffic” with them. The free versions are obviously more popular, but there are services where it is worth paying the difference to get the paid version. Today we are going to talk about the case of WinRar , surely one of the most popular compression software on the market, and its two versions. Most users stick with the free version of Winrar as it brings the functions they need. However, there are also millions of users who pay the Premium version … What do they find in it? Now we will check it.
What is WinRar
Winrar is a file compression and decompression software . It has many more functions, but most users use it precisely to compress different files into the same file, which then appears as a batch, a package that can then be decompressed with the same program. The program is very popular among computer users, to the point of having its own type of file, the .rar . This format is, along with .zip, probably the most popular compression format that currently exists. Thanks to this format , a user can send a series of compressed data in a simple way and in a single file, to be extracted later on other computers.
The popularity of WinRar is based on its ease of use, since it is a fairly intuitive program. It has many advanced options, but users are usually left only with compressing and decompressing the files . This has become very popular to pass through entire music albums, for example, or a set of photos in a compressed format, where they all go together. It is not the same to send fifteen different files, with their natural weight, than to compress them in a .rar with this software and send them in the same package. Thanks to WinRar and its success, many more versions of programs of the same style appeared, such as WinZip , but today the original is still the most popular software.
Your story
Both the program and its own format, RAR, were created by Eugene Roshal, a young Russian computer scientist who was interested in different compression algorithms, and who in the early 90s went to work with his older brother to develop an algorithm that had a better compression rate. This is how the .rar file came about, whose name comes from the author himself, Roshal Archives . Thanks to this invention, Roshal gained the competence to develop a program that works with these types of files, as well as with other compression algorithms. This is how WinRar emerged, in 1993 , to be officially released two years later with a first stable version.
The program achieved immediate success , especially among Windows users who needed software of this type to improve the compression rate of ZIP files. Throughout these years, WinRar has evolved , becoming essential software on any PC in the world. It is currently available in 47 different languages, and offers various free and paid options, being a Shareware software. In April 2021, version 6.01 is reached with interesting new features that have to do above all with improving the security of the passwords of the created files, as well as with more complex compression encryption.
Why pay for WinRar
When we download WinRar and install it on our PC, always free of charge, the program shows us a message announcing that it will work completely free for 40 days. This trial period is common in almost all software of the style, which allows the user to use them for a while before purchasing them. What happens when that trial period is over? As you have surely seen, the only thing that happens is that the program shows us an ad to buy it . However, we can ignore it and continue using it with all its features, without any problem. So why buy WinRar when all we have to do is get past the purchase message?
When you get a license for the program , which starts at 35 euros for personal use, WinRar not only stops you from showing that annoying message. In addition, it adds some extended functions , which are especially useful for those who constantly use the program. These types of licenses are usually bought by companies and organizations , which are the ones that really have to pay for WinRar to take full advantage of the software’s potential. A personal user who uses it only for their common use will hardly find differences between the free version and the paid version , beyond saving that purchase message. The decision is in our hands, of course, and supporting the creators can also be a good reason to buy WinRar … but it is not necessary.
Plans and prices
There are different plans , each with its own price, to buy a Winrar license, which will be permanent and forever. If we want it for personal use , the price will be 36 euros, and we can use it on any computer we have. For companies , the price will be the same, although it will go down as we buy more licenses for more users. If the license is for education , the price will be reduced by 25%, so it can be a good purchase to use in schools and institutes in a totally legal way. However, we must remember that we are not obliged to pay for the program, since its most common functions are one hundred percent free.