Re: Is Xy 4 now freeware?/my advice abandonware

[Kari Eveli lexitec@xxxxxxxx]

As long as nobody cares, it is abandonware or stuff that has only
historic interest.


See this illuminating discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/2wn72g/is_abandonware_legal_old_dos_games_are_on_these/

And the US Copyright Office paper mentioned therein:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/docs/registers-recommendation.pdf

A thought emerges from this: if a program cannot be installed and run in
a contemporary machine without special arrangements like virtual
machines, it might be considered so obsolete that it belongs to a museum
and its preservation and continued use is of archival interest.


While XyWrite 4 is not legally freeware, it is a museum piece that
should be preserved. It may have uses for those that have used it for a
long time. It would be hard to persuade someone new to start using it as
a first or the only word processor. Would you teach it to your kids?


Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
lexitec@xxxxxxxx

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