Crack intro: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:45, 9 March 2023

Revision as of 17:58, 21 March 2023

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A '''crack intro''', also known as a '''cracktro''', '''loader''', or just '''intro''', is a small introduction sequence added to [[Software cracking|cracked software]]. It aims to inform the user which "cracking crew" or individual cracker removed the software's [[copy protection]] and distributed the crack.<ref name="EuroGamer" /><ref name="wired"/><ref name="0dayartTheVerge"/>

==History==

TheyCrack intros first appeared on [[Apple II]] computer in the late 1970s or early 1980s,<ref name="wired" /><ref name="jason_scott_2010" /><ref name="reunanen2010" /> and then on [[ZX Spectrum]], [[Commodore 64]] and [[Amstrad CPC]] games that were distributed around the world via [[Bulletin Board System]]s (BBSes) and [[floppy disk]] copying.<ref name="reunanen2010"/> By 1985, when reviewing the commercially available [[ISEPIC]] cartridge which adds a custom crack intro to [[memory dump]]s of Commodore 64 software, ''[[Ahoy!]]'' wrote that such intros were "in the tradition of the true hacker".<ref name="kevelson198510"/> Early crack intros resemble [[graffiti]] in many ways, although they invaded the [[private sphere]] and not the public space.<ref name="carlsson2009" /><ref name="kotlinski2009" />

As time went on, crack intros became a medium to demonstrate the purported superiority of a cracking group.<ref name="jason_scott_2010" /> Such intros grew very complex, sometimes exceeding the size<ref name="arstechnica2013" /> and complexity<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalekultur.org/files/dk_whatisthedemoscene.pdf|title=The Demoscene|publisher=Digitale Kultur e.V.|access-date=2010-10-25}}