1. Phillip Walter Katz was a computer programmer best known as the co-creator of the ZIP file format for data compression, and the author of PKZIP, a program for creating zip files that ran under DOS.
12 Facts About Phil Katz
1. 2.
Phil Katz was a graduate of Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wisconsin.
3.
Phil Katz wrote code to run programmable logic controllers, which operated manufacturing equipment on shop floors worldwide for Allen-Bradley's customers.
4.
Phil Katz left Allen-Bradley in 1986 to work for Graysoft, a Milwaukee-based software company.
5.
Phil Katz had a special flair for optimizing code: besides writing critical code in assembly language, he would write C code to perform the same task in several different ways and then examine the compiler output to see which produced the most efficient assembly code.
6.
Phil Katz founded PKWARE, Inc in 1986, with the company's operations located in his home in Glendale, Wisconsin, but he remained at Graysoft until 1987.
7.
Phil Katz's family assisted him in running the company, but he eventually fired them when they denied him access to the company's profits.
8.
Phil Katz was adamantly opposed to Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s.
9.
Phil Katz stated that PKARC was a derivative work of ARC, pointing out that comments in both programs were often identical, including spelling errors.
10.
The suit by SEA angered many shareware users who perceived that SEA was a "large, faceless corporation" and Phil Katz was "the little guy".
11.
About a year later, Phil Katz was again convicted of drunk driving.
12.
Between 1994 and September 1999, Phil Katz was arrested five times for operating after suspension or revocation of his driver's license.