Week In Warez Issue #6 - September 4th, 1995

Welcome to The Week in Warez Newsletter issue #6. This week I'm sorry to say Mercury will be leaving the WWN crew for his lack of freetime, read his goodbye letter in this issue. This weeks interview is with Count Zero the founder of Pinnacle. This week there is no Warez Report from Bishop for a reason i do not know. If anyone can supply a warez report similar to Bishop's please contact me through E-Mail or on iRC. Hope you enjoy this issue.
- Cypress [PNC/WWN editor]

We want YOU to write in with articles and comments!! If it hasn't been clear yet, we ACCEPT any articles from ANYONE that are about warez, so all that separates your thoughts from being heard is your laziness. WRITE IN!

Send your articles, comments or suggestions to: - an341292@anon.penet.fi

Thanks to LoTuG there is a WWN home page. Check it out, here you can download or read any issue of WWN on line.

There is a new WWW address than last issue.

Warez Report..............Jimmy Jamez - "Special Biased Edition"
Articles..................Porter - "X-Net Preface"
Articles..................Lifendel - "Join Undernet"
Articles..................LOD - "The Unification"
Articles..................Prozac - "CD-RiP Reply"
Interview.................Lester - "Count Zero"
Announcements.............Mercury - "Mercury Says Goodbye."
Announcements.............PooBiS - "Poo'S House is Back Up!"
Closing...................Lester

Hot summer just finished. It was flagged with Windows 95 sign and in the end of this hot days we finally got all cool shit we wanted for a long time. Past week was not that busy as previous but anyway we saw few awaited titles. Also wanna mention many surprises happened like major dupes from PNC and few big rips from evil dead Prophecy. I am pretty tired after busy work day now and will not write huge descriptions.. will just show you week groups positions.

DOD (Drink Or Die) - my group had some rest after kicking-ass Windows 95 time. Anyway we had few nice utils like Novell Word Perfect Internet Publisher, final release of Microsoft Project 4.1 for Win95, Visio 3.0a Network/Computer Shapes (specialized technical symbols for Visio 3.0a), long awaited store title - Lotus Word Pro 96 Final on 15 disks, very cool tcp/ip utility - 3000 Connection for WRQ 5.01 for Windows and in the last day - awesome eXcursions 1.2a-2 for Win95/NT (c) Digital Equipment. That ca n be very cool week for any group except DOD. Drink or Die posse can do better and they will not get maximum points this week. Hope it will stimulate my dudes to work their asses off soon.

Week Score : 08/10
Total Score: 35/40

PWA (Pirates With Attitude) - of coz the leader of past week. They were slow during Windows 95 release marathon but activated their forces now. Of coz main hit of scene dinosaurs is new Watcom C/C++ Compiler 10.5 for Windows 95. It is huge but it is awesome! If you would like to code anything without any programming skills - use Watcom and you will code smth like Word or Excel in a few hours :) It was definitely programming/developing week for PWA - they also released 14 disks software called CA-Telon P WS 2.3, Visual Basic 4.0 that they claimed final but nobody compared it with DOD one yet. And in the very end of the week our beta-kings presented Borland Delphi 32-bit Beta for Win95. Don't know who will use it coz Delphi is already called unsuc- cessfull dbase/programming language, but anyway this is elite Borland inside ware. Cool points finally!

Week Score : 10/10
Total Score: 30/40

PNC (PiNNACLe) - shame on you kids! all you need to succeed - better supply organization. We finally saw this young posse duping, and duping a lot :) 3 of 4 releases on past week were dupes such as: Mosaic in a Box CD - 3 days after DOD release, Visual FoxPro 3.0 - dupe of DOD release (still dont know what version they duped.. they forgot to tell that :) and the lamest dupe is MS Plus! CD (c'mon dudes.. how much more we will see this released?) Hope this will not continue in future coz it can kill this t eam's potential! Only good thing happened in the last day of week - Some Netscape util for Windows NT on 4 disks. had no chance to look on it yet and HOPE it is not DUPE too :) keep stones rolling

Week Score : 03/10
Total Score: 26/40

NTA/X-FORCE released nothing serious so we will not review them in this issue! Also all PNT titles are not yet checked and me and my friends think that all their 3DS meshes and stuff were ripped from old ViewPoint CD If we are mistaken - we will count this in next volume of WWN. If not - do not take offense, it is complicated to fool me about your release. Nothing else serious happened and i will say bye bye to all WWN readers.. Expect better week, boys.. we will work for it.

PS. Noticed some activity from such unknown groups like TiTAN and ILLUSION. Work better to be in my review next time :)

- JIMMY JAMEZ [DOD TOP GUN]

X-Net is a completely unique network that's forming... The original idea was brought up a long time ago (Early 1995) with the original intention being to cut down on netsplits, channel takeovers, etc. Back then, myself nor others had much time nor motivation to help people get switched over (If they wanted to). I suspect the whole conflict back then was lack of time on most peoples' part. Now that more and more people are coming back on the net (new school year, etc.), there is once again a need to do some sort of reforming. With the "new" X-Net there are more people that have time to put work into it, more stable servers than before, a new look and style, and more.

The objective of X-Net is to provide an alternative, yet VERY unique, IRC Network to whomever wants to join. Reasons why IRCers may want to switch over from the standard IRC Network (EFNet) is to eliminate the lame channel takeovers, the constant netsplits, the Hitler-like IRC Operator attitudes, to provide their channel with an extra service(s) (You'll learn all about this at a later date, when the net is ready to accept connections...), etc. This is just a brief introduction about X-Net. To fin d out more information, help out with the formation/services/etc., simply email me.

-Porter (porter@axs.net)

I sat there on Friday night for about 3 hours jumping from server to server on EFnet trying to hold a steady connection, and to aviod as many netsplits as possible... It wasn't working. Just as soon as I'd say hi to someone, the damn net would split. The EFnet's been getting progressivly worse for the past couple of months to the point where servers are inaccessable. I watched irc.virginia.edu split for over 6 hours. How the hell are you supposed to talk with someone much less send them a file if #1 they are split, and #2 your lag is ?.....

Many people don't care much for my suggestion. They hate the undernet for reasons that I'm not aware of.. I guess it's because of all the "lamers" there. WAKE UP PEOPLE!! We're flooded with them here on EFnet!! There's just not as many of them on the undernet.

Communication between the 2 nets is easy enough.. Eggdrops can be connected between the 2 nets for those hardcord EFnetters so they can be in both places at once without opening another window. Bot's are allowed on over half of the undernet's servers. And it is NOT monitored except for clonebots (they'll k-line you for clones, so watch it).

It will take a while for the traffic to build up to even what half of EFnet's traffic is, but hopefully, this will ease the load on EFnet's servers some (doubtful though). I've slowly been hanging out more and more on the undernet, and intend to move and stay there shortly. I'm sick of the splits. And I'm sick of the hacks. I think it's time to start over. It's time to pop to a new net try to reestablish what we started years ago.

I'm still open to suggestions on other nets besides undernet. At the moment, undernet already had a small warez community that's steadly getting larger. Let's go give them a hand.. Hop over to undernet.org and find a link nearest you. Create your channel, or hop on #warez. Try it out for a while. You'll find it a hell of a lot more enjoyable...

-Lifendel [PiNNaCLe * -=[WaReZ1]=-]

Unification is not a new concept, but it has recently become a topic that is often talked about. What is unification? Unification is the mother of all groups, the ruler of the scene, and the single force that drives the computer underground. There have been many mixed feeling about unifying the pirate scene into one large organization. Some people say it will not work because competition is what drives the industry. Others just have egos that are too big for their own good, and they wish to co ntinue running their own group. Orion, the president of PWA, mentioned a unified group in his recent interview. Of course it is possible.

I have had the idea in my head for years. It sounds like a wonderful idea in your head and on paper, but it just may not work in practice. A unified group must have it's own army of couriers, suppliers, coders, artists, coordinators and sysops. Plus a super-group cannot go on without providing full support for their products, since the people have no where else to turn. Almost all other groups will be given a choice. Give us your best members, or get crushed by our superior power. Everyone will wan t to join the unified group, because that's pretty much it. The group will have to be run by a responsible council of seniors that make all the major decisions, then report to the group leaders. The leaders must have the power to veto any decisions made, of course. The group must be run with the purpose of providing for the scene and to ensure quality. Don't forget you are here to have fun as well.

Chaos theory suggest that such a group will easily be broken apart in no time. To ensure that does not happen, the group leaders must always be in control of what happens. One must not allow sub-groups to be formed within the organization. This will cause a separation and unification will exist no more. An ideal person to lead the job is Mikeysoft, one of the most respected pirates alive in the scene, often referred to as "grandpappy" =). Also, with Orion brewing up some ideas in his head about a uni fication, the dream is not too far from reality. It may as well happen, and soon... prepare for the unification.

- Lord of Darkness (LoD)

I saw an article in WWN #5 that intrigued me to reply. This was part of it: "Why are CD-RIP programs released over and over again? Sometimes they are packaged poorly, sometimes they are missing files, sometimes they are too big and sometimes they don't work properly. What's so difficult?" - LOD

What's so difficult? Time. Time is against groups to get the stuff off the CD, on to the hard drive, ARJ it up, then release it. No time to check it, no time to see if it'll work on other systems. There isn't any time. Thanks to group rivalaries to get the hottest warez the fastest, and be the first ones to release it, groups are pressured to release as fast as they can. Unforuntely, it's usually not tested.

There is also another problem with cd-rips. Groups can release it now, and see what was the problem and release a fix (and another release), or hope that some other group will fix it for them. It's basically "Release now, fix later." One example is DOD's Win95 release. It was missing some crucial files, and 4 groups released fixes for it, including DOD. DOD knew that another group would release it eventually, but they had to be the first to release it. There wouldn't be anytime to check it out (Note: I m ay be mistaken that DOD did test it before releasing it, but this is under my assumption they didn't).

If the CD-RIP doesn't work, it's written as a "OOPS!", written off, swept under the rug of time, and wait for the next release. The scene does "forgive and forget" for bad releases, and the better your reputation is, the better the chance the scene will forgive (unless your persistantly releasing bad rips, then you get bitched out) and eventually forget. For example, Hoodlum and Vendetta has released bad rips (eg FXFighter and Thunderscape), and has not been forgiven since then. On the other hand, TDU, DOD, and PWA has released a bad rip every once in a while, but they are forgiven very quickly because they all have solid reps, as consistent quality groups.

Lastly, no other group is willing to share with another group what they missed or messed up upon and how it could be avoided the next time. If group corporation would happen sometimes, instead of fueds, then more quality warez would be in scene, not crap. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I would LOVE some of TDU's secrets. ;)

- Prozac

This week our interview is with Count Zero,one of the founders of PiNNACLE. I talked with him so we could all get a little info on the past, present, and future of PiNNACLE.

WWN : What was the original idea behind Pinnacle?

COUNT ZERO : Pinnacle was formed as an alternative to the "ego-trippin" and the "I am better than you" ideas. We wanted to have a group that put the scene and releasing quality stuff ahead of people's egos.

WWN : Would you consider pinnacle a success as of now?

COUNT ZERO : uhmm.. until the last couple weeks, yes. but.. I basically see any group that if they release 1 thing 1 person needs, they are a success.

WWN : Where do you see Pinnacle 6 months from now?

COUNT ZERO : I see one of 2 things, A> we'll break up or B> we'll become the leading force in the scene, fending off other groups' merge offers.. that we got from DOD/ILS/NBK/MTY/PCY just the ones I know of!

WWN : What is the one thing you hope that PNC will accomplish?

COUNT ZERO : get back to supplying QUALiTY.. and Quantity.. and follow the old idea. that all ppl are equal in the crew..and no ego-trippin.. no power trippin.

WWN : This past week, PNC made a few mistakes, what happened?

COUNT ZERO : welps. as you know, Bish, Blazen and myself were all very busy.. and with us away, not as many releases came up.. SO, I think the others were strugglin' to get any release possible.. and we didn't follow thru as thoroughly as we should have to check is a release was already up we just need to get our communication back up properly.

WWN : What can we expect from PNC in the upcoming weeks?

COUNT ZERO : uhmm.. a Trimming down of the crew, alot more quality PPE's several quality utils and a rush fer #1.

WWN : Is PNC branching out into the Games scene?

COUNT ZERO : We are planning on it.. a few of our new suppliers are in that area.. but, as we have been in the past, and will be again soon, you can expect QUALiTY not quantity.

This, will be my last Week in Warez Newsletter. As you read in issue #5, I had a minor accident and had to go to the hospital, and couldn't release the mag. However, now i am back, and now i am even more sad to say that I am leaving once again, with the upcoming fall session of school, I am a very busy man, and cannot deal with releasing a magazine on a weekly basis, that is why, I have assigned Lester, an associate of WWN to take over as my p ostion. He will now be releasing the magazine, along with Cypress. Hopefully, I pray he does a good job of it. :) I also am assigning Cyber Angel (if he wishes it so) to do the job along with Lester, he & lester know the workings of WWN very well, and I am sure they can do more than an able job with the magazine. I will be not around much.... very busy, but you can still send me e-mail to mercury@escape.com , but i doubt i will be able to answer it :). Well, as a l ast note, i would like to greet the following people:

blah, i hope this little section of text added a few K of bytes to the mag :)

-Mercury - [Drink or Die] - [Request to Send] - [X-ForCe] - [And Last but most DEF NOT LEAST!] - [WEEK iN WAREZ NEWSLETTER EDITOR!]

Whats up scrubs!

PooBiS here! Well I'm back from my hiatus, and Poo's House is back now as well. If you are wondering to yourself, "What the fuck!? I can't connect to the site!" Maybe it's because you're a lamer. If not, it could be because the site has changed IP's. Furthermore, I had to clean the userbase (which was about 100 strong at that point) because of the few lamers that were slipping through the cracks onto the site. So if you want access to the new and improved Poo's House, you gotta get in touch with me on iR C ASAP. The school year is starting soon, and I wont have time to add people as quickly as I have been, so if ya want/need/gotta have access, let me know soon, or you're outta gas........... Until then.....

Peace and humptiness forever,
PooBiS -DoD-

Quick little shout outs: Mercury (Miss ya son!), Khufu (Sell out!), JJ (spasibo!), CyberAngel (How's Brooklyn Tech? heh), Warlock (NT blows), MagicMn (Roar!), KrAkHed (Leech!), MikeySoft (Tard... say my name.. say it!) Oyl (Grandma!) And all you other niglets...... keep it real!!!!

We hope you enjoyed this issue of WWN, if you have any questions or comments, find us on IRC or through e-mail. And send us any articles you would like to submit, and we will try to fit it intoan issue as soon as possible. Keep reading!

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