Abandonware petition

[Mo]

A friend of mine sent this URL to me and it seems like a pretty good idea,
it's a petition for the release to public domain, software that's over two
generations old. Some of you might want to check it out. Here's the link-
Mo.

http://mivox.com/essays/petition.html

[bud]

Beware of signing petitions like this unless they specify that the code
be released under the GPL of the Free Software Foundation. "Guess who"
loves to grab "abandoned" code, make slight alterations, and claim a
new, proprietary, closed source, copyright. All legal, if unscrupulous.
They've made a "ton" of money with this practice, as if you didn't know.

regards,
dowcom

- -
Oh wow! Virtual Memory! Now to make a REALLY big RAM disk!
http://community.webtv.net/dowcom/DOWCOMSAMSTRADGUIDE

[The Questarian]

You've got a really good point there and I'd hope that they'd be smart
enough to take that in to consideration... This isn't the first "free the
old software" campaign, and at least it'll shake free some software from
some of the more generous hands, but realistically the petition hasn't got
much of having a major impact on the legal status of "abandonware".
Here's the problems a I see them:

1. A lot of companies will hold on to copyrights (See: Greedy) long after
abandoning the software... just in case... like the latest "nostalgia"
releases. Realistically, most companies aren't going to spend the money to
chase down copyright infringement of software that was out of date and
abandoned 10 years ago... unless SOMEONE ELSE is making money on it.... or
in rare instances it's still be produced (the Late CMD comes to mind)

2. There always the "impact on new software sales" argument... The idea is
that if the cheaper ,or free, version of the old software is out there a lot
of people will opt for the old version rather then pay for the new one. In
the context of the of old 8-bit computers it's a rather ridiculous
argument... how much of an impact is being able to get a copy of Castlevania
for the C-64 going to impact game sale on systems like Nintendo or
Playstation?... but it get tossed in never-the-less.

3. Many of the companies/authors that held the original rights went out of
business, where liquidated, where bought out, sold the rights, died, etc.
and god only knows who own the rights (if the copyright holder are even
aware themselves... it's happened) to the old software now.

4. I've read a LOT of "Mine! Mine! Mine!" rants by software authors in reply
to requests to free up their old software... some don't want their old
software released, some want to be paid, and for a few it's an ego thing...
never mind that it's 20 years old :)

I agree that "antique" abandoned software should be freed and preserved as a
significant part of computer history, but a petition to software companies
isn't going to do it. A petition might move some of the more magnanimous
ones to say "what the hell", but it isn't going to convince the bright
young executive in a $1200 suit. What we need is a law that limits the
length that a copywrite can be held on software before it falls into public
domain.... But that's a HUGE issue and I'm sure that if it's ever resolved
the length of time that will be granted to software copyright ownership will
be long enough so that I'll have to hope I get reincarnated... because it's
not going to help in my lifetime! :)

"bud" <dow...@webtv.net> wrote in message
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