I kep coming across this word, and know it's a bad thing, but could someone explain exactly what it is? is it trying to get something that is provided commercially for free? Or just giving it away? I'm not intending to do any of this, i just want a definition please. Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere but I can't see it if it is. Thank you, T

That's exactly what it is. Warez is a hacker term for pirated software.

Oh, okay. Not being a hacker would explain why I don't know the term . It would be helpful if there was a FAQ/dictionary for older people like me. I thought I was up on Netspeak, but this was a new one for me T

It's a generally derogatory term for pirated software, like scfiguy said. Seems like I first heard it on the net in the early 90's, but it's been around awhile. Heh heh. I'm with you - I'd love a "definitive guide to netspeak", tritorella. It's hard to keep track of it all. ;] Hrmmm... but by the time we wrote one, a lot of it'd be obsolete. ;]

Attached Link: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/guides/glossary/

I think it's wrong or confusing to equate warez with hackers. Some hackers may work with software to defeat any copy protection. But some people who use warez (pirated software) are not hackers. They would never qualify as a hacker. I think you have the idea now... warez is pirated software. Warez is not popular here, or in "the mainstream Internet" because piracy cheats the software authors and companies out of the profits for the software they created or sell. I am totally surprised someone doesn't know the meaning of warez, since the term has been around for a decade or so. But now you know.

The term came from the word software or wares as in a vendor selling wares. But the people who deal in pirated software typically use a z wherever you would normally put an s as in warez, or thievez. To me the word means lamerz. Hackers and warez people are not the same, although it usually will take a hacker to crack the s.n. or dongle code, and so we have another term, crackerz. Some warez are just software that has been purchased and then shared with whoever wants it like Poser models and such. Lots of shareware programs are cracked and handed out. Usually it's like a contest to see who can get the cleanest out the fastest, and some of the warez groups take great pride in what they do, even to the point of writing their own install for the program they have stolen. They are usually pretty sharp, and lots of people who do warez actually work for the company that they steal the products from. I did some research and was amazed at how many people who actually did the code for the dongles and s.n. protection were then writing a back door for the cracks. Most people know what a dongle is, but for those who don't it's a device that you put in a port on your computer, typically the printer port, then your printer cable is connected to the dongle. The dongle has it's own s.n. and you must have it installed for the program to function. Lightwave has a dongle. So does Shave and a Haircut for Lightwave, you can download the program but you then must purchase the dongle for it to work. I have a ton of them. Warez people say that they do the dongle cracks because it's bad to have that many devices daisy-chained from your printer port, which is bull, I have a printer cable extension, and the dongles attach to that, so I have had no problems with them. There are a lot of folks out there who don't know what warez are, and most who don't are nervous about asking questions. In some of my classes we have done a whole session on seeing how easy it is to get them, and the downside of warez. Basically they are not worth the time to download them, even beyond the fact that you don't get tech support or upgrades, they are usually either riddled with viruses or you end up in porn Hell. Also there are lots of keyloggers out there that get your passwords as you type them in. I don't know about most folks but no program is worth having 65 porn windows open on my system...lol Anyway T, that's probably more than you wanted to know, and there is a lot more info on it out there. Just do a search on hackers, hackerz, warez, crackers and crackerz. Bottom line is these people are what contributes to the high cost we pay for software, they are thieves, and the honest people end up paying for their use of the program. I'd rather buy it, if it has bugs they will eventually be dealt with and I will be able to download for free whatever fix has been created to take care of the problems. If a company can't stay afloat due to software piracy we all lose out. Marque

To elaborate:

Cracker/Hacker: A person who uses his or her computer knowledge to subvert the appropriate use of a computer system. For example, the use of a bug in an internet service, like e-mail, to gain supreme priveleges on a system that does not belong to him or her.

Hacker Definition II: Someone who uses their superior computer knowledge for good purposes - fixing bugs in software, writing his or her own software, etc. Software hackers try to keep this definition alive, but it has fallen out of use for the most part.

Warez: Pirated software - not a derogatory term, actually. Software pirates use this word interchangeably with others to describe pirated software.

Warez Puppy/Kiddie: A derogatory term for a software pirate.

There are two types of pirates - distributors and crackers. Crackers actually crack the software and prepare the distribution. Distributors do just that - operate sites that make the software available for download.

I only learned the definition of it a couple of years ago. I've only been on the Internet for less than five years, myself, so I was not up on Netspeak, either. I also found out only about a year ago what WIP means, and I had to ask someone about it to find out. :) A friend of mine only found out within this last year what LOL means. She thought it meant "lots of love." Melanie

warez-- pronounced=="where is" places to find anything electronic,scanned, printed warez sites = a great source of pirated software example: you have a demo version of the software called "ABC" its trial verson ends after "n" days. you feel it is too much to pay $$$ dollars for stuff which you will use may be once. Or you have this great "XYZ" soft with all savings/export disabled, SAD isn't it? so you visit above and find "the cure" .by the way it is illegal if you didn't know :) warez links = http urls to warez sites usually filled with porno alongside so if you are a straight girl and don't mind too much sex... or if you are a guys who sometimes wants a time off...

"Warez is not popular here..." That's putting it lightly! Metioning the "W" word (or it's equivalent phrase, "Where can I get Vickie free?") is likely to get you tarred and feathered by the community. :-) Well, that's all I have to say about that. I was never here.

I, for one, am strongly against copy protection, in "code format," and dongles as well. I've run into situations where the copy protection has almost totally crippled my ability to use software I'd bought. It either hasn't worked on my computer configuration, or made me "jump through so many hoops" that I felt I was doing something wrong, rather than using something I paid for. As for dongles, I've run into situations where they were not compatible with certain hardware configurations. I advise people against using anything that wants to share a parallel port. Some of today's "intelligent printers" won't share the parallel port with scanners or any other device. Too many computer users have been suckered into the old "share the parallel port" idea, and wasted many hours and dollars trying to fix the problem. I fixed my computer problems by buying and installing a second parallel port. Then I networked our home computers, and let the wife have my printer so we could share it. I removed the second parallel port and will not use any other parallel devices other than my scanner which now has the port all to itself. The irony of copy protection is that it sometimes drives legal owners of software to look for warez so they will be able to use the sofware they bought so they can get around the crippling side effects of the copy protection.

And ronknights hits the nail on the head. Take Windows XP. Excuse me, but I have better things to do than "re-register" legal software every few weeks, for example. Thanks to copyright and intellectual rights, software companies have more rights than just about any group. Imagine this scenario... Head off to a car dealership with your new car on a towtruck. "Excuse me, but I bought a new car and not only does it not work properly, but I discovered that it does not suit my needs at all, and it damaged my driveway." "Well, we can exchange your new car for another car JUST LIKE IT, but you cannot have your money back. Sorry." Those are the rights a software company has. I can't tell you how many times I have purchased a game that didn't work with my computer despite the fact that the specs said it should, and the rights of software companies due to copyright protection state outright that I am simply out the 50 - 70 dollars the game cost. Too bad for me.

Thanks for all the answers - I certainly don't want anyone to think that I want to obtain any such thing. It's the sort of word that, as someone said, you'd think everyone knows, but actually doesn't have much currency outside the net and nobody bothers to explain. I wasn't even aware of the trade in cracked code until this year, until someone who should have known better was happily installing cracked software on an academic computer, no less, that I was using. Even I knew that was way stupid. I don't want to get into copy protection issues etc, either if you don't mind. I'm well aware this is a no no here and elsewhere. Thanks T

tritorella: I'm glad you found your answers. You can tell people figured your questions were sincere, or they would have locked/killed this thread immediately. I must confess the term netspeak didn't ring a bell with me. I either didn't know the definition or didn't care. I've worked with computers for over 20 years, and my internet experience goes back only 4-5 years. So most of my terminology, in my book, is "computer talk," not just "internet talk."

Sorry, I get vehement about large software corporations who screw people over and then cry about their rights. =D pops in a classical CD and takes a valium

Hey, I "share your pain." My bad experience began with Commodore and their computers and software in the 1980's. Since then I've been more careful with who gets my business. I stayed away from anything Microsoft for the longest time.... Until OS/2 appeared to be dead, and Windows 95 came out.

where is the warez??????

Questions like that can get you banned from Renderosity, kidding or not. Russell

"Take Windows XP. Excuse me, but I have better things to do than "re-register" legal software every few weeks, for example."

Funny - so do all of us. Fortunately, Windows XP doesn't make you do anything of the kind. So that works out well :)

"Thanks to copyright and intellectual rights, software companies have more rights than just about any group."

This is simply untrue. None of the rights of intellectual property or copyright are specific to software. Thus, they have no more or less rights than anyone else dealing in intellectual property.

"and the rights of software companies due to copyright protection state outright that I am simply out the 50 - 70 dollars the game cost."

Actually, copyright isn't the issue. The issue is the license you agreed to when you opened the software. Currently those licenses are under contention in the court system, but they are still enforced often today. In other words, the copyright law only says (rightly) that a person/company who produces something owns it. All the rest of your problems come from the contract law that allows a binding license.

I fully support the laws on the books that allow the creator of a work to control the terms under which they want to share that work. There is no possible justification for saying that someone who creates something must give it away or sell it outright.

I won't buy windows xp or office xp. I've been lucky though with the dongles I have, so far no problems. Marque

Quote from ZDNet:

(http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2819063,00.html)

"Activation. If you buy a new computer with XP pre-installed, you will probably never be asked to activate the new machine or reactivate it when you, for some reason, need to reinstall the operating system. Upgraders, however, will be asked to activate the software either automatically over the Internet or via telephone. Then, if the software sees too many changes in your hardware--and thinks you might have moved the OS to a new machine--it will force you to reactivate, which may involve a telephone call to Microsoft. Just the existence of this scheme torques many people, a sentiment of which Microsoft is well aware."

Too many changes in hardware? What constitutes "too many"? Why must I be forced to call Microsoft if I upgrade my computer too many times? Why must I be forced to call Microsoft if I buy a new computer with no OS loaded? In fact, I might be buying a new computer soon. I shouldn't have to call Microsoft to load Windows on the new computer after I install RedHat on the old one. If I bought the freaking product, I BOUGHT IT. Treating me like a potential thief because I upgraded a computer system is outrageously annoying.

And the copyright vs. licensing is semantics. The reason these licenses came to be comes from copyright issues--concern that people would install a product or copy it, then return it to the store and get a refund.

Currently software companies, in my opinion, get a few too many perks with little risk. Right now I cannot demand my money back if I buy a piece of software that doesn't work, but if I buy a broken hard drive, my rights as a consumer are protected. Would you buy a car that had a seal on the door that said "By breaking this seal you are agreeing to accept this vehicle as is. This vehicle may not suit your purposes, and the maker of this car is not liable for any damage that comes from using this car, even if faults with the car caused the damage."

Somehow I don't think so.

I've had bad experiences with Dongles, Marque, both software and hardware. ALso had bad experiences getting tech support for dongle problems. Maybe a system specific thing? I've seen other people have no problems whatsoever.

Being a newbie on here, I don't want to step out of line on a coversation thread. However, on the subject of Warez and Hackerz. Firstly, not all of them are looser geeks out to screw the software industry. Sometimes it really IS just to get around some of the issues written about on this thread. I've seen it done, even when they own the software. In some cases it's something as simple as wanting to play a CD while you play Quake III, both of which demand a CD in the drive. If you have a CD-less copy of Quake III, it wouldn't be an issue, now would it? Now when that hacked copy of Quake goes out on the net to be hosted by someone, it becomes an issue. However, I used to work for a pretty large game company, and I can tell you that most software companies today KNOW the software they release is going to get hacked. It happens. If you put up artwork on the net, you can bet someone will save it to a HD and upload it somewhere else. It's as much a part of the Internet as anything else. For those of us who have been at this thing longer than AOL has been around accept a certain amount of this as "par for the course", as do the companies who get ripped off. Is it fair? Not in the least. But it does happen and it is taken into account when software is released. As for having to have dongles and other such things attached to your machine, not gonna happen to this computer person. Software asking you to stick yet another something into your machine just because they are paranoid, well in my opinon these companies are BEGGING to be ripped off. Hackerz see it as a challenge, and most of them are good enough to get away with it. Software companies themselves need to rethink the idea of what this does to the end user. If you are literally drving your customers to seek out hacked versions of your software, then in this users opinon you deserve what you get. There are smarter ways to do business. Sorry to go off on a rant here, but it's one of those things I feel strongly about. I have, in the past, used software that I had not paid for. In ALL cases, if I used the software more than a couple of times to see what it was like, I ended up going to the software store or online somewhere and paying for it. So Warez DO serve a purpose to some of us. I know a larger percentage of people who have cracked software do not do this, but lumping everyone into one stereotype on this one is as bad as any other stereotype. It's not impossible the person using the software doesn't want to pay $100 just to see if it's what they want. On a side note, don't kid yourself into thinking that Porn ladden websites are the only way to get these things. My old contact used to be a 50+ year old woman who had taken a code class and liked the fact that she could "Stick it to Corp America" by ripping software. She is no longer doing it, but she was not a "hacker" or a "Code warrior" or anything else. She was someone who lived for open source code and keeping software free. There IS something to be said for that as well. I'll shut up now. And get flamed I am sure. That's o.k. I'm a big boy and know that others may have differing opinons. Celty Out.

shrug When reps from companies state that they turn a blind eye to some of the things you're saying unless their noses are rubbed in it [off the record, natch], and when major compaies regularly disable dongles on their seat lisences because they screw up the network or the individual workstations... there's a defiante double standard out there. I won't flame you for speaking what's basically net reality. Hacker and warez are NOT synonymous. Two different breeds of computer user.

"Too many changes in hardware? What constitutes "too many"?

This is a question with specific, simple answers. It turns out WMA is not nearly as much of a problem as many think and certainly not a mystery.

"Why must I be forced to call Microsoft if I upgrade my computer too many times?"

Your not. The only time you will have to call MS is if you are not going to be on the Internet with that machine for more than 14 days.

"Why must I be forced to call Microsoft if I buy a new computer with no OS loaded?"

Again, you aren't :) The only time you would have to call MS is if you freshly loaded the OS and did not have internet access on it.

I have loaded somewhere between 15 and 20 XP boxes now and not once had to pick up a phone.

"If I bought the freaking product, I BOUGHT IT."

This is software, you haven't bought anything. You have entered into a license agreement with the legal holder of the rights. That agreement lets you use that software under specific conditions. Don't confuse those things.

"Treating me like a potential thief because I upgraded a computer system is outrageously annoying."

Yet is it working wonderfully. Microsoft is having a fantastic conversion rate with XP. I do consulting work for several shops have made large purchases of XP licenses for me to install - and not upgrade licenses, full installs. The only possible reason is that the 20 machines they were running 2000 on before were not legally licensed.

Similarly, I have done several upgrades to home machines for friends and clients under similar circumstances. They want XP, they don't want a "cracked" version so they are willing to purchase a legal copy.

Before WMA this was simply not the case.

You are welcome to be annoyed, but in this case the license holder was right. They found a way that stops casual piracy without causing any significant problems for legal users.

"Right now I cannot demand my money back if I buy a piece of software that doesn't work"

Nope, you can't (of course, in some states you actually can...) but most good stores will in fact do just that for you if you are a good customer. I know I have no problems returning miserable software to CompUSA for example.

"This vehicle may not suit your purposes"

This is why trial software is so popular. So don't buy anything you haven't tried first.

"and the maker of this car is not liable for any damage that comes from using this car, even if faults with the car caused the damage"

As a software developer this clause is what makes it possible to stay in business. If I sold a 20$ text editor and one of the bugs wipes out a document some idiot lawyer values at 300 million dollars I had damn well better not be liable.

Heck, this is true in many other businesses as well. The company you get cell phone access from is not responsible if the cell is too static filled for you to close your million dollar business deal on either.

Nor should they be.

WEll let me see, if a software company can't be responsible for the reliabiiity of its own product, then I certainly wouldn't want to do business with them. As for the "copy protection scheme" with Windows XP, it seems they're merely hurting the "honest home user" who can't afford to buy another copy of Windows XP. Hell they won't even reward a loyal customer by reducing the price in half. What do you get, $10 off?! Outrageous. In the meantime, the hackers and crackers have already thwarted the activation/protection scheme, and more users are tempted to get the cracked software.

Yep, ronknights. Soulhuntre: It MIGHT be news to Microsoft, but not every computer is connected to the Internet. Shocking idea, I know. If I buy a PC with XP loaded, or even purchased XP for a new PC with no OS loaded, I would be sorely tempted to run a crackecd copy anyway. Or uninstall it and use 2000. My PC is my business. What I do with it, how often I upgrade it, and whether I have it connected to the Internet or not is my affair, not Microsoft's. Now, if Windows was open source and I could peek under the hood to find out EXACTLY what Microsoft was doing with this licensing scheme, I wouldn't mind a bit. If RedHat switched to a licensing scheme like this tomorrow, I wouldn't care, because I would be able to personally verify that my privacy wasn't being impinged upon. Not so with Microsoft. As for software licenses.. trust me, I am not confused. Thanks to license agreements, software makers who accidentally ship their products with VIRUSES in it are not liable. That's wrong. And your "good customer" arrangement with CompUSA is illegal, depending on which state you are in.

"In the meantime, the hackers and crackers have already thwarted the activation/protection scheme, and more users are tempted to get the cracked software."

::shrugs:: They were going to do it anyway. As we all agree nothing will stop those who are happy/willing to use cracked software.

In this case however many users are going legit, and it's working out just fine.

"It MIGHT be news to Microsoft, but not every computer is connected to the Internet."

A non internet connected home PC is unlikely to be one who's owner will use XP. Besides, there is a easy and free alternate method of Phone activation. This is not even counting that someone who is not net connected is probably not loading the machine themselves or building it by hand - so it probably already came activated.

"EXACTLY what Microsoft was doing with this licensing scheme"

Your certainly welcome to whatever level of concern your comfortable with. Me, I am fairly secure with the situation as the amount of data encoded in the key is well known and very small. You are welcome, of course, not to use it.

Me, I don't run Linux anymore on critical servers because I don't have time to audit a few millions of lines of code that have been inserted by random programmers. I used to be much more confident but after the latest fiasco's with clearly broken code slipping into the kernel I no longer have faith that Linux is paying close attention. Add in that Alan Cox is no longer a part of the release maintenance cycle and I would sooner load OpenBSD.

"And your "good customer" arrangement with CompUSA is illegal, depending on which state you are in."

I'll be interested in seeing what portion of the law - of ANY state - forbids such an exchange. The circumstances of what CompUSA can accept back are a matter of agreement between CompUSA and their distributor - and their distributor and Microsoft. There is no state law that makes it illegal to accept returns of opened software.  There IS law that upholds the license agreement of the software company, but they are free to give the retailers leeway.

I used to run a software store, they were very specific. However, if you have any references to correct my understanding feel free to forward them.

Bottom line: you are welcome to run anything you want, and to NOT run anything you don't like. The only time I bother commenting on this stuff is when someone is confused about or misleading on the facts. WPA is simply not a problem for 99.99% of all those who have used it (now in the millions) and it is bringing pirates into legal status.

When I worked at a software store in Colorado, the rules were very clear. Acceptance of opened software meant that the store was out the money, since we couldn't RMA an opened box to any distributor and get our money back. We could exchange for the same piece of software, but under no circumstances could we accept an opened CD. The box could be open, but if that seal was broken, we simply could not accept the software since we would be violating the license agreement (read contract) with the company. My training manager told me it wasn't only a question of money, but of legality. On several occasions I dealt with customers who insisted that they speak to a manager about a return problem, and my manager always said the same thing "Sir, I can't legally accept this software. You need to contact the software company directly." I believe the music guys had similar restrictions, but I didn't work in that section so I can't be sure. Anyway, I agree with you. Each user has a choice. WinXP is not a problem for most users. It wouldn't be a problem for me, except idologically. And, BSD rocks. =)

Our distributor DID take them back opened... but then again we had a few hundred stores so we might have had more clout or the distributor might have just eaten it.

Ah well... it's a big planet :)