ZIP Is the Foundation of Windows 8 App Packaging – Microsoft

The utterly-popular ZIP format has served as the foundation for the Windows 8 app install package, Microsoft has officially revealed in a new blog post.

Although the company currently uses the Windows 8 APPX (.appx) app package format, it all comes down to ZIP, as Microsoft needed “a simple but popular starting base.”

“Our focus was to keep it simple. Previous installer technologies required you learn to write install scripts or use special tools to build the app into a specialized binary format. For Windows Store apps, we stepped back and looked to build upon existing standards rather than invent yet another,” the company explained.

Basically, Microsoft has tried to make things easier for both developers and end users, as app packaging, installation and updating are still considered pretty frustrating these days. So ZIP initially seemed like the right way to go.

For more information on Microsoft’s installer technologies, including some very technical bits, click here.