To put it bluntly, Kiwix has become increasingly buggy since Windows 7, and this shows in our download numbers.
#KIWIX WHERE TO PUT ZIM FILES SOFTWARE#
With certain elements of its software architecture having been deprecated, we have an increasing number of compatibility issues and reports of poor desktop user experience. Kiwix being used offline we cannot collect detailed usage data, and as these two examples show we probably don't want to anyway: we just know it is widely used from reports we get (or press clippings).įeedback is regularly coming in from users, which helps us know what they want or need (and also flag bugs). We also have many distributors around the world who find Kiwix extremely valuable and useful, but use their own distribution means: to give but two extreme example, Kiwix is now officially distributed by all government computer clubs in Cuba, and copies are also smuggled into North Korea. This is a low estimate, as by ''direct downloads'' we mean the number of individual connections to our servers to download one version of Kiwix or another: this does not include people downloading it once on a flash drive, for instance, and then distributing several copies on their school computers as we know happens quite a bit (nor does it include NGO's using it in their own programs, e.g. In 2016, all versions of Kiwix were directly downloaded more than a million times (see Kiwix Annual Report), 60% of these being on desktop computers. Thanks to Kiwix, students in schools, libraries and prisons can easily access content offline to support their learning when connectivity is low or inexistent (and, in our experience, these places usually have little choice in terms of books to compensate). Here's what the Windows version looks like today.