Quoting ian sison (mailing list) ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > Speaking of which, since wordstar is that old, should they (MicroPro - are > they still around?) just open souce the thing, so that us linux folk can > have a small footprint capable enough _textmode_ word processor?
Two reasons why this tends not to happen: 1. Third-party rights. E.g., even if Corel wanted to open-source Word Perfect for Linux when they discontinued the product, the codebase includes proprietary code from at least five other firms, under licence: http://linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/future.html#OPENSOURCE 2. Fear of lawsuit for failure of due diligence: E.g., when Gobe Software went bankrupt, the chief programmer and the CEO wanted to release the GobeProductive office suite for Linux under the GNU GPL, but were ultimately unable to do so for fear that the corporate creditors would successfully sue them and the rest of the defunct firm's management for failing to adequately safeguard assets by (arguably) diminishing those assets' theoretical marketability. http://linuxmafia.com/wpfaq/future.html#ALTERNATIVES The irony is that the codebase's real-world value will almost certainly prove to be zero, since it will almost certainly drop out of sight never to be seen again, like just about all other discontinued proprietary software products. Nonetheless, refusing to open-source a version of it in order to keep it alive, which would perhaps _enable_ a subsequent proprietary re-release by keeping interest alive, is always the "safe" course for a corporate officer, in the sense of not opening the officer up to litigation -- even in cases where the company has gone out of business, and it's pretty obvious that its remaining assets have no business value. Anyhow, as of August 2002, ownership of the WordStar copyright has landed with a firm called Gore Technology, which apparently has no plans to ever again make it available. Detailed history here: http://www.wordstar.org/wordstar/history/history.htm -- Cheers, "I used to be on the border of insanity. However, due Rick Moen to pressing political concerns, I recently had to invade." [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Kurt Montandon, in r.a.sf.w.r-j -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
