Crack intro: Difference between revisions

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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"/>

They 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"/> Even the commercially available [[ISEPIC]] cartridge, which producedproduces [[memory dump]]s of copy-protected Commodore 64 software, addedadds a custom crack intro to the snapshots it producedproduces. An ''[[Ahoy!]]'' reviewer wrote in 1985 that such intros are "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.|format=PDF|accessdate=2010-10-25}}