Don Marti

Sun 17 Apr 2005 08:33:50 PM PDT

What happened to the middle ground in software licensing?

Remember the "just like a book" software license? You couldn't make extra copies to run or to sell, but the license didn't prevent you from doing sensible things like reviewing the software, reverse engineering it for compatibility, or reselling a copy.

And what about source code escrow? If you want to make some software proprietary, have a trusted third party put the source code in a safe, and publish it if you ever stop selling or supporting the software.

Putting all proprietary software under draconian licenses just gives proprietary software a bad name. Which is a good thing in the long run, but why isn't there anyone who says "I'd like to get paid by the copy, but I don't want to sign users into indentured servitude."