[game_preservation] Abandonware

[Jim Leonard]

Andrew Armstrong wrote:

> Simple question: What are your opinions on abandonware 

> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware>?


I helped form the Abandonware movement in 1996, something I'm not 
terribly proud of (because of the way it has grown and changed, not 
because of its formation).  Abandonware, in my role forming it, was 
never about trying to be legal.  It was a guerrilla-style way to ensure 
that electronic artworks were preserved, such as avant-guard titles like 
Alter Ego or Timothy Leary's Mind Mirror, which the mainstream had 
completely abandoned at that time.  "Oldwarez", if you will.  There was 
never any pretense otherwise, in my time.

The movement eventually tried to constantly justify everything it was 
doing as legal, and that contributed to me leaving the movement in a 
public capacity in late 1997.

Everything I thought about Abandonware in 2000 was summed up in an 
essay; you can read it here: 
http://www.mobygames.com/featured_article/feature,7/


> I'd rather like to cover this area, despite it's grey legal area, rather 

> then ignore it. This would only mean some more news articles where 

> relevant and a listing of the relevant sites in our links directory, and 

> possibly more information if I got around to researching it past what 

> Wikipedia has. It might also influence future projects, who knows what 

> we'll do.


My 2008 thoughts on the subject:  It's clearly illegal.  Regardless, we 
should grab everything while we can, for the eventual day -- possibly 
long after our deaths -- when it will become legal to distribute these 
works.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at     http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/