Additionally, the growing availability of millions of computers based on the same microprocessor architecture created for the first time an unfragmented and big enough market for binary distributed software. Franklin law decision, before which only source code was copyrightable. In 1983, binary software became copyrightable in the United States as well by the Apple vs. Starting in February 1983 IBM adopted an " object-code-only" model for a growing list of their software and stopped shipping much of the source code, even to licensees. Īccording to Brewster Kahle the legal characteristic of software changed also due to the U.S. But the legal status of software copyright, especially for object code, was not clear until the 1983 appeals court ruling in Apple Computer, Inc. īill Gates' " Open Letter to Hobbyists" in 1976 decried computer hobbyists' rampant copyright infringement of software, particularly Microsoft's Altair BASIC interpreter, and asserted that their unauthorized use hindered his ability to produce quality software. In 1969, IBM, which had antitrust lawsuits pending against it, led an industry change by starting to charge separately for mainframe software and services, by unbundling hardware and software. It is available to be edited only by the organization that developed it and those licensed to use the software. Closed source means computer programs whose source code is not published except to licensees. Customers who developed software often made it available to others without charge. Computer vendors usually provided the source code for installed software to customers. Service and all software available were usually supplied by manufacturers without separate charge until 1969. Until the late 1960s computers-large and expensive mainframe computers, machines in specially air-conditioned computer rooms-were usually leased to customers rather than sold.
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