[cctalk] Re: VAX and OpenVMS

On Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 10:28 PM Chris Hanson via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: Yes. My analogy sucks, honestly. Personally, I'm generally of the view people should make money off their IP. But if they don't make it possible to pay, then it's more akin to abandoned property after a while and ending sales means you don't want my money when I use it. There is an exception for copying books that are out of print. Libraries can do that. While not spelled out in the exceptions, I tend to view abandonware in a similar light: it should be ok to copy and use that out of print software. Especially if you aren't using it for commercial gain. Should be is a value judgement of what's fairest in general. It isn't a legal value though... it would need to be litigated to know for sure and it's the sort of thing that's hard to predict: would someone spend the money to try to enforce something? If they don't is it worthless, so use can't be theft since there is no value. Since it's unlikely to be litigated, we won't know if this theory would hold true or the extent to which it would apply. Rights are only rights to the extent they are enforced or can be enforced at the end of the day. It's one thing to hope you won't get caught when someone is showing an interest in enforcement, but perhaps another if no one is. Or perhaps you owe obedience to that right, regardless of what the current owners seem to think. So i fell back on it's complicated, because it is and reasonable cases can be made, etc. And I freely acknowledge this is just a personal view of things and others may differ. I wish I'd selected a better analogy, though, because as it was the implication of theft was rather more than I intended. Warner — Chris