Abandonware?

edited April 2007 in Site Issues
What is Abandonware?
What is Warez?
I think a clear definition is needed before the creation of a user uploads ftp.

Comments

  • OK-from wikipedia:

    Abandonware:Abandonware is computer software that is no longer current, but is still of historical, utilitarian, or recreational interest. While the term has largely referred to older games, other classes of software are sometimes described as such also. What makes it abandonded is that it is no longer available for legitimate purchase and can only be obtained by making copies that may well be illegal.

    The term has no legal meaning, and much abandonware is not in the public domain, so it cannot necessarily be legally copied or distributed without the permission of the owner.

    Warez:Warez" refers primarily to copyrighted material traded in violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to illegal releases by organized groups, as opposed to peer-to-peer file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar interest using a Darknet. It usually does not refer to commercial for-profit software counterfeiting. This term was initially coined by members of the various computer underground circles, but has since become commonplace among Internet users and the media. The term "piracy" is used in this article to refer to "unauthorized use of intellectual property

    The abandonware law: There is no recognition of a legal term abandonware in copyright law. There is a long held concept of abandonment in trademark law, but it is a direct result of the infinite term of trademark protection. Currently, a copyright can be released into the public domain if the owner clearly does so in writing; however this formal process is not considered abandoning, but rather releasing. Those who do not own a copyright cannot merely claim the copyright abandoned and start using it without permission of the copyright holder, who would then have a legal remedy. Hence abandonware is sometimes considered to be synonymous with "old warez".

    Hosting and distributing copyrighted software without permission is illegal. Copyright holders, sometimes through the Entertainment Software Association, send cease and desist letters, and some sites have shut down or removed software as a result. However, according to Wired magazine, most of the association's efforts are spent on new games, due to those titles having the highest value.[3]

    Companies do sometimes voluntarily relinquish copyright on software, putting it into the public domain, or re-license it as free software or freeware. id Software is an early proponent of a similar practice, releasing the source code for the game engine (but not the actual game content, such as levels or textures) of some older titles under a free software license. Other examples include Amstrad, who support emulation and free distribution of ZX Spectrum hardware ROMs and software, and Revolution Software, which released their game Beneath a Steel Sky as freeware and gave the engine's source code to the authors of ScummVM to add support for the game. Transfer of public domain or free software is perfectly legal, distinguishing it from copyrighted abandonware. See list of commercial games released as freeware.

    There are active groups that try to lobby companies to release their software as legal abandonware. These efforts have met with mixed results. One example is the huge library of educational titles released by MECC. MECC was sold to Br
  • Ask the user providing the upload server
  • Q wrote:
    Ask the user providing the upload server
  • That's being provided by one user, separate from WinWorld, as a public service. It (the uploads buissiness) are on his server (and responsibility) alone.

    -Q
  • I don't want to see this forum disapper like osbetaarchive.
  • I gave a defenition which should answer this thread.
  • Software that has been 'abandoned' or it's life cycle has ended.
  • The wikipedia quote (second post) should give a very clear defenition for others to summarise an whichever way they will, as long as people viewing it get the concept.
  • not to be argumentative, but since abandonware has no legal definition, I don't rely on others to define it for me. A wiki post doesn't do it when my butt could be sued.

    The concept is there is no abandonware. You might better define it as a line you've drawn in your mind and in your staying behind this line limits your risk/meets your moral sense of acceptable.
  • You're very opinionated. Abandonware isn't supported or copyrighted. The company must have no support page for it.
  • Yes I am opinionated, and you will be so too if you don't wish to be a follower all your days. At some point you have to decide where you sit and state it openly. Like me or hate me, I won't leave you confused on where I stand when I do business with you.

    "Abandonware" is certainly protected by copyright. For example , try taking NT 3.51 and it's code and selling it on the web. M$ will have their arm up your ass in order to pull your intestines out and hang you with them.

    Or perhaps you can show me definitve legal proof that a copyright suddenly expires because the developer dropped support...

    Unless the developer specifically moves the code and associated applications to the public, they definitely retain their copyright.
  • Microsoft still has a few pages on ms-dos, recently updated. So you're saying ms-dos isn't abandonware and isn't legally downloadable?
  • That is exactly what I am saying...

    Since the product is commercially unviable, they don't see it as economically realistic to chase around the users of old software even if they are swapping it around.

    However, if you were try releasing something commercial or for profit based on their work (their code and products) that you didn't license from them, then it would be in their best interests to sue you, either for econonic reasons or to set a precedent for others.
  • I haven't downloaded ms-dos, but it is illegal to download it?
  • Definitely yes
    J-walking is illegal too but how often do you get a ticket for it, the risk is low in both cases, but illegal nonetheless
  • So all Winworld downloads are illegal, then? I doubt it.
  • doubt it all you like.
    All versions of Windows have valid copyrights. As an experiement, copy Windows 1.01 onto a CD and listl it on eBay as a copy and see what happens.
  • There are countless fakes on ebay, the sellers just print the windows label on the cd and print the packaging.
  • That wasn't the discussion here was it? All Microsoft code ever produced is copyrighted and therefore illegal to disseminate without proper licensing until such time as it placed in the public domain by Microsoft or their copyright expires in the normal fashion.
  • Ok, finally we're getting somewhere here. Why does Winworld have a downloads server with Microsoft and IBM OSs on it?
  • because the risk of being "ticketed" for dissemtation of old operating systems when you are not profiting from it is so low as to be neglible. Like the jaywalking analogy.

    It's not worth their time to worry about it in other words, I doubt Windows 98 etc is going to take the world by storm and make a huge comeback in any case and were it to happen, M$ would be up everybodys butt to get their piece of the pie (and so they should, it's their product)
  • 98 is still widely used here. But I agree, it's dos-based like 95 and is unsupported, NT based OSs being the current attraction.
  • I might as well sign off and charge my dead battery-I can see the 'case' has two sides and I can't be bothered to find an answer to this.
  • alexzarach wrote:
    Abandonware isn't supported or copyrighted.

    The 1st portion of that is generally held true by people into ABW, the second is absolutely false. Just because someone no longer sells something does NOT mean the copyright lapses. If a book goes out of print, the copyright doesn't lapse; if a film is withdrawn from all legitimate circulation (EG. The Censored Seven), the copyright doesn't lapse; and if software is no longer sold or supported from its owner/author, the copyright does not lapse.

    -Q
  • I didn't mean it like that.
    1) supported
    2) or copyrighted software
    2) or those with support pages...

    ...aren't abandonware.
  • Alright I parsed that wrong then.

    -Q
Sign In or Register to comment.