Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: What was the first abandonware?
As response to the missing availability of abandonware, 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. While trading old games has taken many names and forms, the term "abandonware" was coined by Peter Ringering in late 1996.[17] Ringering found classic game websites similar to his own, contacted their webmasters, and formed the original Abandonware Ring in February 1997.[17] This original webring was little more than a collection of sites linking to adventureclassicgaming.com. Another was a site indexing them all to provide a rudimentary search facility. In October 1997, the Interactive Digital Software Association sent cease and desist letters to all sites within the Abandonware Ring, which led to most shutting down. An unintended consequence (called the Streisand effect in Internet parlance) was that it spurred others to create new abandonware sites and organizations that came to outnumber the original Ring members. Sites formed after the demise of the original Abandonware Ring include Abandonia, Bunny Abandonware and Home of the Underdogs. In later years abandonware websites actively acquired and received permissions from developers and copyright holders (e.g. Jeff Minter, Magnetic Fields[18][19] or Gremlin Interactive[20]) for legal redistribution of abandoned works,[21] an example is World of Spectrum who acquired the permission from many developers and successfully retracted a DMCA case.[22][23][24][25]
In intellectual rights context, abandonware is a software (or hardware) special case of the general concept of orphan works.
Rarely has any abandonware case gone to court, but it is still unlawful to distribute copies of old copyrighted software and games, with or without compensation, in any Berne Convention signatory country.[86]
Also, once a software product has become abandonware for a developer, even historically important software might get lost forever very easily, as numerous cases have shown.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] One of many examples is the closure of Atari in Sunnyvale, California in 1996, when the original source code of several milestones of video game history (like Asteroids or Centipede) was thrown out as trash.[14][15]
Even if the copyright is not defended, copying of such software is still unlawful in most jurisdictions when a copyright is still in effect. Abandonware changes hands on the assumption that the resources required to enforce copyrights outweigh benefits a copyright holder might realize from selling software licenses. Additionally, abandonware proponents argue that distributing software for which there is no one to defend the copyright is morally acceptable, even where unsupported by current law. Companies that have gone out of business without transferring their copyrights are an example of this; many hardware and software companies that developed older systems are long since out of business and precise documentation of the copyrights may not be readily available.
Abandonware is a product, typically software, ignored by its owner and manufacturer, and for which no support is available[1]. Although such software is usually still under copyright, the owner may not be tracking copyright violations.
Often the availability of abandonware on the Internet is related to the willingness of copyright holders to defend their copyrights. For example, unencumbered games for Colecovision are markedly easier to find on the Internet than unencumbered games for Mattel Intellivision in large part because there is still a company that sells Intellivision games while no such company exists for the Colecovision.
Achavanuntakul, a Thai journalist, had been in the United States at that time and wanted to play MicroProse's 1989 title "Sword of the Samurai", as her copy had fallen apart. However, by 1998, MicroProse no longer was selling any copies of the title, forcing Achavanuntakul to seek out a copy through an abandonware webring, eventually coming across the title offered to be played through emulation. She was surprised that other older, popular titles such as Infocom and Quantum Quality Productions were not available through these sites, and took it upon herself to launch "Home of the Underdogs" that October, a more permanent site for users to obtain abandonware. Initially, she had about 20 games offered but within a few months, had gained help from others to expand to about 80 games.
Sometimes user-communities convince companies to voluntarily relinquish copyright on software, putting it into the public domain, or re-license it as free software or as freeware. Transfer of public domain or freely licensed software is perfectly legal, distinguishing it from abandonware which still has full copyright restrictions.
The project is abandonware at this point.
Currently, US copyright law does not recognize the term or concept of "abandonware" while the general concept "orphan works" is recognized (see Orphan works in the United States). There is a long-held concept of abandonment in trademark law as a direct result of the infinite term of trademark protection. Currently, a copyright can be released into the public domain if the owner clearly does so in writing; however this formal process is not considered abandoning, but rather releasing. Those who do not own a copyright cannot merely claim the copyright abandoned and start using protected works without permission of the copyright holder, who could then seek legal remedy.
Netstorm is considered abandonware by some.
If a software product reaches end-of-life and becomes abandonware, users are confronted with several potential problems: missing purchase availability (besides used software) and missing technical support, e.g. compatibility fixes for newer hardware and operating systems. These problems are exacerbated if software is bound ("dongle") to physical media with a limited life-expectancy (floppy discs, optical media etc.) and backups are impossible because of copy protection or copyright law. If a software is distributed only in a digital, DRM-locked form[4] or as SaaS, the shutdown of the servers will lead to a public loss of the software. If the software product is without alternative, the missing replacement availability becomes a challenge for continued software usage.
In response to the missing software support, sometimes the software's user community begins to provide support (bug fixes, compatibility adaptions etc.) even without available source code, internal software documentation and original developer tools.[67] Methods are debugging, reverse engineering of file and data formats, and hacking the binary executables. Often the results are distributed as unofficial patches. Notable examples are Fallout 2,[68] Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines[69] or even Windows 98.[70] For instance in 2012, when the multiplayer game Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance became unsupported abandonware as the official multiplayer server and support was shut down,[71][72] the game community itself took over with a self-developed multiplayer server and client.[73][74][75][76]
The term "abandonware" is broad, and encompasses many types of old software.
With the new possibility of digital distribution arising in mid-2000, the commercial distribution for many old titles became feasible again as deployment and storage costs dropped significantly.[77] A digital distributor specialized in bringing old games out of abandonware is GOG.com (formerly called Good Old Games) who started in 2008 to search for copyright holders of classic games to release them legally and DRM-free again.[78][79] For instance, on December 9, 2013 the real-time strategy video game Conquest: Frontier Wars was, after ten years of non-availability, re-released by gog.com, also including the source code.[80][81]
Some game developers showed sympathy for abandonware websites as they preserve their classical game titles.
However, because of the length of copyright enforcement in most countries, it is likely that by the time a piece of software defaults to public domain, it will have long become obsolete, irrelevant, or incompatible with any existing hardware. Additionally, due to the relatively short commercial, as well as physical, lifespans of most digital media, it is entirely possible that by the time the copyright expires for a piece of software, it will no longer exist in any form. However, since the largest risk in dealing with abandonware is that of distribution, this may be mitigated somewhat by private users (or organizations such as the Internet Archive) making private copies of such software, which would then be legally redistributable at the time of copyright expiry.
Abandonware website "Abandonia"s Ted Striker reviewed "Lost Dutchman Mine" with "There are different different modes that the game will put you in, which are equally basic and so fun (something basic is something fun says I). The game runs on real-time, and you need to do what you would need to do in a real expedition: get well equipped, be sure to check your supplies often and don't panic once you encounter danger. After all isn't it this very feature that makes a game addictive in the first place?"
Abandonware advocates also frequently cite historical preservation as a reason for trading abandoned software.[17] Older computer media are fragile and prone to rapid deterioration, necessitating transfer of these materials to more modern, stable media and generation of many copies to ensure the software will not simply disappear. Users of still-functional older computer systems argue for the need of abandonware because re-release of software by copyright holders will most likely target modern systems or incompatible media instead, preventing legal purchase of compatible software.
In the EU in 2012 an "Orphan Works Directive" (Directive 2012/28/EU) was constituted and is transferred into the member's laws. While the terminology has ambiguities regarding software and especially video games, some scholars argue that abandonware software video games fall under the definition of audiovisual works mentioned there.[91]
Proponents of abandonware preservation argue that it is more ethical to make copies of such software than new software that still sells. Those ignorant of copyright law have incorrectly taken this to mean that abandonware is legal to distribute, although no software written since 1964 is old enough for copyright to have expired in the US.[82] Even in cases where the original company no longer exists, the rights usually belong to someone else, though no one may be able to trace actual ownership, including the owners themselves.
Definitions of "abandoned" vary, but in general it is like any item that is abandoned – it is ignored by the owner, and as such product support and possibly copyright enforcement are also "abandoned". It can refer 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. In such cases, copyright and support issues are often ignored. Software might also be considered abandoned when it can be used only with obsolete technologies, such as pre-Macintosh Apple computers. A difference between abandonware and a discontinued product is that the manufacturer has not officially 'discontinued' the software, but only ended their official efforts at technical support.
 Popcorn on LTF Abandonware France
Several websites archive abandonware for download, including old versions of applications which are difficult to find by any other means. Much of this software fits the definition of "software that is no longer current, but is still of interest", but the line separating the use and distribution of abandonware from copyright infringement is blurry, and the term abandonware could be used to distribute software without proper notification of the owner.