#ABANDONWARE FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE#
People have distributed old software since shortly after the beginning of personal computing, but the activity remained low-key until the advent of the Internet. Therefore, sharing of such software is usually considered copyright infringement, though in practice copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights. In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright revoked and some company or individual still owns exclusive rights.
When this happens, product rights are usually transferred to another company that may elect not to sell or support products acquired.
Software companies and manufacturers may change their names, go bankrupt, enter into mergers, or cease to exist for a variety of reasons. Abandonware may be computer software or physical devices which are usually computerised in some fashion, such as personal computer games, productivity applications, utility software, or mobile phones.ĭefinitions of "abandoned" vary generally it refers to a product that is no longer available for legal purchase, over the age where the product creator feels an obligation to continue to support it, or where Operating Systems or hardware platforms have evolved to such a degree that the creator feels continued support cannot be financially justified. Abandonware are discontinued products for which no product support is available, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons.
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