[oldandboring]

My interpretation was/is that they're both right. The word originated as 'wares with a Z' but once it was spelled that way it became natural to pronounce it 'ware-ez' but nobody thought you were unintentionally mispronouncing it. The in-joke continued on certain boards as 'warez' became 'Juárez'...

[bombcar]

Ciudad Warez was a common joke for us, though I do suspect one person actually pronounced it that way.

Warez as "softwares" seems reasonable to me, but language moves.

[squigz]

Okay I'm a little embarrassed to admit I might have been pronouncing it that last way for the past 20 years...