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The medical industry often has contractual obligations to post the source code, dependencies and instructions for building the software to a third party escrow

by _w1tm 2y ago

The medical industry often has contractual obligations to post the source code, dependencies and instructions for building the software to a third party escrow service. In case of bankruptcy this source code is then released to the customers. Maybe software copyright should expire when a company dies, making all source code they owned public domain.

buran77 2y ago
> Maybe software copyright should expire when a company dies Why just bankruptcy? I'd say any software copyright should cease when the owner cannot or will not continue supporting the software to work to the level of functionality from purchase or at discontinuation, whichever is higher. So even if a company still operates but isn't keeping your purchased software working (as-is operation, not security patches or new features) at least at the level from when you bought it or when it was discontinued, then the software should become open under reasonable conditions. Free for personal use, maybe a reasonable licensing cost for companies who want to keep supporting it commercially. There are probably many corner cases that would need to be addressed to not become a vehicle for abuse but it would be a good start towards not making software unnecessarily obsolete.
- TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
  The counter-argument would be that game code includes valuable IP including frameworks, models, and so on, some of which might still be in use in other games. Software is inherently fragile and dependent on surrounding technology. Buy a hammer, get a hammer. Buy (rent) software, you get something that only works on a specific combination of hardware and OS, perhaps only with certain libraries, packages, and other extras installed. So even with open code the game will still stop being supported on new platforms, probably quite quickly.
  - Nullabillity 2y ago
    GP's framework already covers that case though. Want to keep the IP? Keep supporting it.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
layer8 2y ago
How do they ensure the posted build instructions and software actually work? In case of release, if it turns out to not work, you’re still out of luck. I don’t think this is practical unless “can be made to work independently” is already publicly verifiable when the software is first issued. Which of course won’t happen because it would immediately be pirated.

by _w1tm 2y ago

buran77 2y ago

> Maybe software copyright should expire when a company dies Why just bankruptcy? I'd say any software copyright should cease when the owner cannot or will not continue supporting the software to work to the level of functionality from purchase or at discontinuation, whichever is higher. So even if a company still operates but isn't keeping your purchased software working (as-is operation, not security patches or new features) at least at the level from when you bought it or when it was discontinued, then the software should become open under reasonable conditions. Free for personal use, maybe a reasonable licensing cost for companies who want to keep supporting it commercially. There are probably many corner cases that would need to be addressed to not become a vehicle for abuse but it would be a good start towards not making software unnecessarily obsolete.

TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
The counter-argument would be that game code includes valuable IP including frameworks, models, and so on, some of which might still be in use in other games. Software is inherently fragile and dependent on surrounding technology. Buy a hammer, get a hammer. Buy (rent) software, you get something that only works on a specific combination of hardware and OS, perhaps only with certain libraries, packages, and other extras installed. So even with open code the game will still stop being supported on new platforms, probably quite quickly.
- Nullabillity 2y ago
  GP's framework already covers that case though. Want to keep the IP? Keep supporting it.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

layer8 2y ago

How do they ensure the posted build instructions and software actually work? In case of release, if it turns out to not work, you’re still out of luck. I don’t think this is practical unless “can be made to work independently” is already publicly verifiable when the software is first issued. Which of course won’t happen because it would immediately be pirated.