winNT 4 end of life...

[blakerwry]

I know some software seems to become freeware when the company that produced that software no longer makes it or that company has since gone under...

IE it isn't infringing on copyright law because copyright law's purpose is to protect the investment of the copyright holder and make sure that they don't lose money for their invention/idea... if they aren't selling the product then they aren't losing any money by you using it.

Will winNT 4 basically become free when it goes end of life?

 

[honold]

is msdos free? windows 3.1?

they'll probably pull it from all public distribution and only allow it to be purchased via specific channels

 

[time]

Unfortunately, the copyright system has been bent completely out of shape by vested interests. There's no obligation for a copyright holder (which was always supposed to be the author!) to make the work available. If you've tried to find books or albums that haven't been recently published, you would have some idea of the difficulty.

IMO, the best copyright reform that could happen would be to cause copyrights to lapse if the owner fails to sell copies of the work for a specified period. The world is being denied access to too many good works, purely due to the greed of a few large companies.

Oh yes, and wouldn't that put pressure on Microsoft et al ...

 

[time]

A sheer coincidence, but I just noticed this letter over at The Inquirer.

The second letter is worth reading too ... :lol:

 

[honold]

people will no doubt still be buying nt4 or nt embedded for esoteric applications, just like they still buy ms-dos today. even if they weren't, ms would no doubt sell it to their friends to keep from lapsing