There is a need to elect leaders who will change the law concerning abandonware.
Abandonware is any software program that is proprietary where the owner of the intellectual property decides either a not to license any more copies of it or b not to support it anymore. Typically, abandonware is tied to an OS or hardware that isn't supported anymore by anyone. Anything written for MS-DOS, Win 3.x, Win 9x, Windows Millenium, Windows NT x.x, or Windows 2000 is abandonware. The stuff written for Windows 3.x and dos fits the definition most readily where one could argue that stuff for abandoned versions of NT may still be supported and sold. Sadly, most abandonware is not licensed in such a way that people can take it on separate from the original authors or share it without permission. This limits software interchange and increases the digital divide between the haves and have nots. The problem of abandonware is also creating software monopolies. The European notion of property is a problematic one in general. It is responsible for the displacement in America of native people. In this day and age being applied to software, the notion is protecting abusive software monopolies such as Microsoft and Novell. There is a need to recognize that there is the public good to protect by placing a statute of limitations on copyright and patent restrictions in regards to computer software. Software patents need to be fought and copyright needs to be brought down to a reasonable level. A program should not be protected for the lifetime of it's author or the company that produces it. I feel the same way about movies and music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
