WinRAR is dead

TimboJones

@rcy026 said:

@TimboJones said:

@rcy026 said:

@TimboJones said:

@rcy026 said:

@Nyr said:

@hostwebis said:
WinRAR is/was the favorite compression software for pirates.

Most of the illegal files were compressed in RAR and I never understood why.

Main reason is that the warez scene rules require that.

True, but there is a reason for those rules.
If there is one thing the scene is known for, its efficiency. If there was a superior format out there, the rules would require you to use that instead.

Yes, infecting PC's with cracked winrar. It's nonsensical for them not to use open source options that were available. They get access to millions of PC's for credit cards and legit software keys this way.

You guys don't think these guys are all 14 year old basement dwellers and not semi-amateur organized crime? There's no reason to take that risk without a possible reward or personal gain.

You do realize that winrar is not the only software capable of handling rar archives, right?
You can use Winzip, 7-zip, B1, Ashampoo or whatever you see fit. If you use linux, all distributions have multiple options to handle rar in whatever package manager they are using.
I have never seen any of the major groups even releasing any version of winrar, cracked or otherwise. Who the hell runs a cracked version of winrar, it works anyway so way bother?

The reward and personal gain is cred. Nobody does warez for money. Viruses and malware yes, but that's a completely different scene, I have absolutely no clue whether or not they even have any rules or standards.

Ha. We have vastly different experiences. In the days of dial up, the guy with the BBS board hookup had a CD burning business selling the warez. He certainly wasn't the only one.

Then in 2023, we have a shit ton of key/license/serial selling websites.

Probably not as different as you might think, I was one of the guys running a BBS and selling CDs. And believe me, I made absolutely no profit from it, it did not even cover the costs of burners and CD-R's. Factor in the cost of the multiple landlines to run the BBS and I could just as well have thrown money into a fire.

Probably timing and market. I lived in a small town where there was less people and money. There was one guy. He made a killing.

I moved to a new town and thought I could be that guy. Bought cd writer for $550 and sold like 1 disc. The new town had better internet access at that point and the other kids had way more pocket money to be trying to save on music and software.