The upgrading deal, the registration with Spam Micro, I mean Smith Micro, and the fact that with broadband there is really no need for archives anymore is why I dislike Stuffit these days.
I used to love Stuffit, so much that I wound up getting Stuffit Deluxe on CD after trying out Stuffit Lite as shareware. I still have it installed on my OS 9 iBook but have used it probably twice in the past year for the purpose of backing up files without taking up much space. This was one of the original uses of the program and is still very valid today. The other was to compress larger files, such as shareware programs, so they could easily be transmitted over the old dial-up modems.
Trouble is, the world is using high-speed connections these days. Even a combined OS X update doesn't take all that long to install over regular no-frills DSL. Furthermore, most software is either one or two files (for Macs) or an installer (for Macs or Windows)--it's not like how it used to be under OS 9 where there were hundreds of data files.
There hasn't been a need for Stuffit in the web world for a long time now. Most everyone is using broadband, and the ones who are still using dial-up probably aren't the type who would be trying out shareware--they are likely very casual users who log on once a month to look at their e-mail. Those who can't afford broadband use it wherever it is available for free, such as a library or coffeeshop.
Stuffit is bad these days and has been since Aladdin Systems was bought by Spam Micro, who knew at the time that it was necessary for most people to have a copy of it. They tried to take advantage of that but ultimately wound up making an undesirable product to take care of necessities, much like Real Player, AIM (admit it, the software was bad, thankfully nobody seems to be using it anymore), and Flash.
I do wonder what would have happened if Compact Pro had won the compression software wars...