Zip isn't just a compression format that people can choose to use or not. Java jars, wars, ears, etc. and a number of other apps/frameworks/etc. package files using zip. It is flawed, but many well-used things are flawed.
I personally use tar.gz whenever I don't have to use zip, unless I'm sending to someone where I don't know if the person is using OS X or a *nix OS, in which case I use zip, just in case. But I use unzip and sometimes zip in OS X and Linux, and whenever I'm trying to unpackage something I know is compressed in an unfamiliar format, I unzip it, and I think every time, it was the right guess.
I personally use tar.gz whenever I don't have to use zip, unless I'm sending to someone where I don't know if the person is using OS X or a *nix OS, in which case I use zip, just in case. But I use unzip and sometimes zip in OS X and Linux, and whenever I'm trying to unpackage something I know is compressed in an unfamiliar format, I unzip it, and I think every time, it was the right guess.
Thanks for the post, though.