What Happens To Old Software?

whatsit asks: "I was recently reminded of a little DOS database called Nutplus (also called Nutshell in its earlier versions) and decided to contact the company that owned it in hopes that they would open source it. After some research and some tears, I found that they may be out of business! I found a Web site address: www.fairsoft.com that doesn't work. The company's name is/was Fairhaven Software. I also came across an 800 number and a long distance number for them, but both ring busy. What happens to old software when the company that owns it goes out of business? How can I go about getting rights to the source code? Does anyone have experience with a similar situation? Do copyrights on these pieces of software ever expire?" Are there any ways to obtain the rights to software after the parent company is long gone (assuming the code happens to exist after the lifespan of said company)?

Re:www.fairsoft.com works for me!

[whatsit]

Yeah, two days after I submitted this, I found the website working. From the looks of it, they are very proud of their software.
An executeable version costs mega money.
Thanks for your continued comments on the topic, though. :)

Re:still a good question

[SEWilco]

To get the copyright, you'd have to have the copyright holder (either the programmer's estate or the company) assign it to you. It might be easier to just have them assign it to the FSF [gnu.org]. Then you, and we, can simply maintain [gnu.org] it.

Re:Lots of Options

[FlavorDave]

In the free software world, a number of sites are set up to "take in" software that the maintainer no longer develops until a new maintainer can be found.

Sounds like a junkyard for software :) I know some people I know get really attached to their software, but sometimes you just got to let go!

But I understand that sometimes isn't an option -- A company I worked with had a similar problem with a proprietary network API we bought from another company. We had some bug fixes we needed and went on a hunt for the company. It had been bought and sold a few times and ended up in the hands of a well known networking company who bought it simply to put it out of business. They were interested in completely rubbing out the company so we were left without a way to get to this source. We even tracked down the original programmer and he said he had the code but wouldn't dare do anything with it (like send it to us) for fear of being stomped into oblivion by this lantastic...errr fantastic networking company.

Year 2000 killed a lot off.

[shippo]

When I worked in network support, I had a lot of customers who relied upon old, unmaintained, software. Some of this software was over 10 years old, yet usually worked with no problems. Things like network based bulletin boards, menuing systems, 3270 print gateways and so on. It was used because no replacement could be found.

Then the suits got concerned over Year 2000 compliancy. Despite the fact that this software did no date related work, since no Year 2000 compliancy statement could be found, the software had to be junked.

There was the case with some of this software that access to the source code could have extended its life further. Some of the software was linked against a DOS networking library, which mutated over the years. One problem was the host OS version number call, which broke when the OS went above version 6. A simple recompile against the current library was sufficient, but forcing the then current software owners to do that was impossible.

Re:Lots of Options

[brank]

Picture this: 386, DOS 6.22 (no Windows), WP5.1. I know a guy for whom this was an upgrade a few years ago. He's now using a P120, Win98, and he had me set it up so that it would stop at DOS before going into Windows. Guess why....

Re:still a good question

[Mignon]

I mean, it's not likely that today's computer programs will be of much use in 70 years

I wonder what's going to happen in 2038 when 32-bit time_t runs out...

Re:still a good question

[CharlieG]

I've got a similar question (that was rejected) - I'm interested in a piece of software - The original author posted the code with the note "This version is free to use, and here is the source, do what you like", but listed the software copyright his boss. The author the died (cancer). I called the company (NOT a software company), and they said (verbally only) Have fun, we have no interest in it. How do I go about getting the copyright, so I can release the code GPL'd?

www.fairsoft.com works for me!

[divec]

There's stuff there [fairsoft.com] mentioning a Windows version. So I guess they're still in business.

Re:still a good question

[Spoing]

I wonder what's going to happen in 2038 when 32-bit time_t runs out...

It'll be a catastrophy! Worse then Y2K...well...er...ah...never mind.

Lots of Options

[brank]

There are sites dedicated to selling used copies of old software, or FTP sites with huge shareware archives that are never updated. You can FTPSearch [ftpsearch.ntnu.no] if you know the file name.

If the software isn't free, then it usually ends up in the hands of somebody rather than just wasting away. See if you can find records of the company (or some the companies assests) being sold to some other company.

But this is part of a large issue. In the free software world, a number of sites are set up to "take in" software that the maintainer no longer develops until a new maintainer can be found. Also, the FTPSearching is a lot more reliable. Maybe an agency could be set up that would look for interesting proprietary software that is about to (or already has) leave the active development cycle and buy it. It could do things like selling remaining inventory or acting like a auction house for "dead" products.

still a good question

[evil_deceiver]

Yeah, the address works for me too, and seems to be the same company & the same software. But the question's still valid. I mean, what happens with shareware programs (especially crippled ones) when their author dies (as the creator of PKZip recently did [slashdot.org]), or the contact information circulated with the program ceases to be accurate? What happens to proprietary software when the company folds? IMO, it should become public domain, but U.S. copyright law doesn't work that way [cornell.edu] -- it protects creations for 70 years after the last author's death or 120 years after creation (assuming software is covered by this same law, which isn't entirely clear). In a lot of these cases, of course, source code simply won't be available. Should the public be allowed to use legal maneuvering to obtain source code for a program upon the author's death? I mean, it's not likely that today's computer programs will be of much use in 70 years, so ideally you'd want the source much sooner. But wouldn't that involve sort of a post-mortem violation of privacy? I don't know . . . .

Now, if the author or company disappears for whatever reason, but reappears later, or someone with a legitimate claim to ownership of the program is still around, opening the source or making the program public domain prematurely could be a big problem. I don't know; I don't seem to be providing many answers here. Oh well.