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There should be should be a legislation for this - when a closed source software reaches EOL or is abandoned or the company that created it shuts down, the sour
by webmobdev 4y ago
There should be should be a legislation for this - when a closed source software reaches EOL or is abandoned or the company that created it shuts down, the source code of the application should be made public.
- pasc1878 4y agoHow do you implement this. When a company dies you can't access its servewrs etc. Which is why in the contract you have with the software company you include having them put the code in escrow with a third party. The third party is necessary
- webmobdev 4y agoSure, a third-party is required. What I meant is that there should be a law forcing software companies to commit their source code to such kind of third-party services (government or private run) so that closed source code can be open sourced after certain conditions are fulfilled.
- PubliusMI 4y ago
- TeMPOraL 4y agoThe unfortunate counter to that is, "we can't release the source code as significant parts of it are still [used in / IP relevant to] the [maintained / new / upcoming] product". This is why the third party 'pasc1878 suggests isn't enough - changes to standard practice, and likely to IP laws themselves, are needed too, which are unlikely to happen without regulatory pressure.
- webmobdev 4y agoYes, copyright laws for code will need to be tweaked. There's also the issue that some countries don't recognise software patents.