Merge pull request #101 from Defacto2/groups

updates to texts and new additions

Author: bengarrett

view/app/apiinfo.tmpl

@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@
                         <!-- releasers, groups -->
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}groups">{{$baseUrl}}groups</a> <span class="text-secondary">(all groups, paginated)</span></li>
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}releaser/razor-1911">{{$baseUrl}}releaser/razor-1911</a> <span class="text-secondary">(list the releases of Razor 1911)</span></li>
+                        <li><a href="{{$api}}artifact/ab1f158">{{$baseUrl}}artifact/ab1f158</a> <span class="text-secondary">(list Razor's oldest PC release)</span></li>
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}boards">{{$baseUrl}}boards</a> <span class="text-secondary">(all bulletin board systems)</span></li>
+                        <li><a href="{{$api}}releaser/chicago-bbs">{{$baseUrl}}releaser/chicago-bbs</a> <span class="text-secondary">(list the releases of 1983's Chicago BBS)</span></li>
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}magazines">{{$baseUrl}}magazines</a> <span class="text-secondary">(all magazines)</span></li>
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}releaser/the-zapper">{{$baseUrl}}releaser/the-zapper</a> <span class="text-secondary">(list the releases of the magazine The Zapper)</span></li>
                         <li><a href="{{$api}}sites">{{$baseUrl}}sites</a> <span class="text-secondary">(all FTP sites)</span></li>
@@ -61,7 +63,9 @@
                     <p>No authentication is required for read-only API endpoints.</p>
                     <div class="alert alert-success" role="alert">
                       19-May-2025, The API v1 is live! The response header <var>X-Api-Version</var> contains the current version value.
-                      <div class="text-secondary">You could use the <a href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-beautifier-and-edito/lpopeocbeepakdnipejhlpcmifheolpl">JSON-beautifier</a> browser extension to view this data.</span>
+                      <div class="text-secondary">
+                        You could use the <a href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-beautifier-and-edito/lpopeocbeepakdnipejhlpcmifheolpl">JSON-beautifier</a> browser extension to view this data.
+                      </div>
                     </div>
                 </div>
             </div>

view/app/releaseryear.tmpl

@@ -108,8 +108,10 @@ Initially intended to showcase their disk cracking abilities, it evolved into a
 Unsurprisingly, the PC lagged behind this trend due to its many technical challenges.
 However, it was on the PC in 1993 that demos arguably reached their peak with the release of "Second Reality" by Future Crew,
 which briefly was the ultimate way for computer enthusiasts to demonstrate their hardware's capabilities.
-This dominance was short-lived, as the following month saw the release of id Software's DOOM shareware edition,
+But this was short-lived, as the following month saw the release of id Software's DOOM shareware edition,
 which revolutionized the gaming world.
+While the guys at Future Crew would go onto form Remedy Entertainment, <small>(Alan Wake and Max Payne fame)</small> 
+whom in 1997 would release the Final Reality benchmark tool, a spiritual successor to the Demoscene release.
 </small></div>
 {{- else if eq $year 1994 }}
 <div class="{{$eraClass}}">
@@ -126,6 +128,7 @@ Worse still, for the so-called "elite," it granted open access to what was forme
 <small><em class="text-primary">End of the floppy</em>.
 The mid-1990s brought massive changes to the PC landscape, including the rapid decline of floppy disk software distribution.
 Within months, publishers abandoned floppies in favor of CD-ROM, creating numerous challenges for software cracking and distribution.
+For some, this change meant the Cracking Scene was dead. To them, cracking software for the past 15-years had always meant breaking floppy disk copy protection.
 1995 also saw the launch of Microsoft's Windows 95, the first widely adopted graphical operating system for the PC,
 though hardcore gamers, and non-PC users remained unimpressed.
 </small></div>
@@ -139,8 +142,8 @@ often complaining publicly about "lamers" while also courting their attention an
 personality culture, and unprecedented open access.
 Groups created websites such as razor1911.com as status symbols,
 back when the Web 1.0 remained unmonetized, cryptic, bureaucratic, and expensive.
-Some even sold branded merchanise, that they advertised in their releases, 
-payable by mailing cash or a cheque to a po-box, with the purchased wares shipped world-wide.
+Some even sold branded merchandise, that they advertised in their releases, 
+payable by mailing cash or a cheque to a PO Box, with the purchased wares shipped world-wide.
 </small></div>
 {{- else if eq $year 1997 }}
 <div class="{{$eraClass}}">
@@ -151,6 +154,54 @@ While pirating entire CDs online wasn't new, there was no standard way until som
 These full-disc images were unpopular with most users who were used to extremely limited bandwidth.
 FTP site operators also disliked them because of their inherent size and the high costs of hosting such large files.
 </small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 1998 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><em class="text-primary">CD keys</em>
+Game of the Year StarCraft from Blizzard Software introduces a user account system with its Battle.net online multiplayer service. 
+Each account is tied to a unique serial number (CD key) included in the retail boxed copy of the game. 
+Without a valid CD key, StarCraft cannot be used for multiplayer competitive gameplay, which is a core selling point. 
+So, while the growing popularity of ISO releases allowed a return to sharing complete copies of pirated games, they were not always functionally identical to the retail software.
+</small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 2000 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><em class="text-primary">Operation Cybercrime</em>
+On May 4, 2000, the US Department of Justice announced that seventeen defendants from across the United States and Europe were indicted by a federal grand jury for 
+allegedly conspiring to infringe the copyright of more than 5,000 computer software programs available through a hidden Internet site located at a university in Quebec, Canada. 
+The group was Pirates With Attitude (PWA). Five of those indicted were Intel employees, and the file site was named Sentinel, which served as the group's
+primary headquarters. The bust forced the closure of the nearly decade-old group and marked the first time someone was prosecuted for 'warez,' the sharing of software without profit.
+</small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 2001 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><em class="text-primary">Operation Buccaneer</em>
+A sequel of sorts occurred just 17 months after Operation Cybercrime, but this time the Department of Justice used the more playful name Operation Buccaneer and targeted PWA's longtime rivals, Drink or Die. 
+Unlike the first operation, which failed to nab PWA members outside North America, Buccaneer involved about 70 search warrants across 17 countries and intended to send a message that playing anonymous online wasn't safe. 
+The multinational takedown forced many to reevaluate their priorities and move on. 
+Groups and sites downsized, went dark, or became minimal. 
+The Scene forever changed; the days of publicly socializing, exchanging information, or engaging with user bases were over.
+</small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 2002 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><em class="text-primary">P2P</em>
+Just as the Scene was veering further underground and reducing its size and exposure, piracy was exploding in the mainstream. Windows PCs and home Internet were booming, but it wasn't software piracy drawing attention—it was music, television, and
+films. 2001 saw the peak and infamous takedown of Napster, the famed music 'sharing' platform, only for it to be replaced by a dozen clones by 2002. There was also the launch of BitTorrent, an Internet protocol enabling peer-to-peer file sharing,
+eliminating the need for centralized file servers.
+</small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 2003 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><strong class="text-primary">☠️</strong>
+While BitTorrent was a catch-all name, technically it was only a protocol—just like HTTP or FTP. A BitTorrent client couldn't do much without links to other clients sharing files. The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, and similar websites provided an
+easy, centralized, searchable repository of publicly available torrents on the Internet. Users could search for any song, album, game, film, or TV show and connect their BitTorrent software to others sharing the content they wanted. The irony was
+that many in the PC piracy Scene despised this. As they retreated from the limelight, The Pirate Bay and its ilk exposed piracy to ever more people.
+</small></div>
+{{- else if eq $year 2004 }}
+<div class="{{$eraClass}}">
+<small><em class="text-primary">Steam</em>
+2004 saw the first 'AAA' PC game released and distributed online, Half-Life 2 from Valve on their new digital distribution platform, Steam. 
+Half-Life 2 was also released on CD and DVD at retail by a traditional publisher. 
+But the online distribution allowed developers to earn more money and was often better for consumers, who didn't need to worry about out-of-stock or out-of-print games or deal with multi-disc installations from slow physical media. 
+Over the years, Steam would eventually outweigh many advantages of PC game piracy, becoming an easier, faster, and more user-friendly distribution method than warez releases.
+</small></div>
+{{/* new entries goes here */}}
 {{- end}}
             <div class="{{$class}}">
         {{- end}}