Windows has shipped with "ZIP folders" and the ability to create and extract ZIP files since the late 90s/early 2000s I believe (not sure exactly what version.) As of the latest versions of Windows 11, Windows ships with libarchive-based archive extraction, which should let you extract many archives natively (including 7-zip and RAR) via the UI as well as the CLI (via BSD TAR, which also ships with Windows these days.)
ZIP Folders was developed by Dave Plummer from Microsoft (who runs the Dave's Garage YouTube channel). It was made in his spare time, then was licensed to Microsoft afterwards.
Is there any proof that any version of windows shipped his implementation? Because many things that scammer (like literally he ran a pc tech support scam company) says have little to no relation to reality
Why not? It's probably the most used archiver in history. It may not be the greatest technical marvel but it was well enough liked in its day (it has been fully replaced in newer versions).
Because it doesn't work correctly for advanced users and doesn't work well for low skill or intermediate users. It's a poor solution to handling zip files that doesn't work well for any class of users.
They were introduced in the Microsoft Plus package for Windows 98, then finally integrated into Windows ME. Windows ME was released after Windows 2000, so the feature didn't appear there. But it did appear in XP. You could actually install the Windows ME version of the shell extension on 2000.
Ah, well that might explain my thinking it came around in the XP days - by then I had discovered the WinRAR indefinite trial, so I didn't really need an alternative.
