[Noisebridge-discuss] releasing libre source code of proprietary sw

[Felipe Sanches]

I'd like to discuss in this thread the possibilities of promoting the
liberation of the source code of software and firmware of ancient hardware
(and maybe even hardware schematics) under free software licenses via
crowdfunding campaigns or other means (let's brainstorm!).

Which would be the best strategies to gather enough money or attention so
that it could somehow affect the decision of the copyright holders of code
related to hardware that is no longer benefiting from its commercial
lifespan.

I understand that offering money in order to get some proprietary code
released as free software may not be enough. Or maybe it could be enough in
some cases to simply demonstrate that there is enough people interested in
looking at the source code for the sake of preserving parts of the history
of computing.

The most interesting proprietary sw I would be glad to see released as free
software (or even better, to the public domain!) are the source code for
oldschool video game cartridges, such as SEGA Genesis, SNES, or even older
stuff like MSX, Magnavox Odyssey/VideoPac, etc... But the same idea applies
to any piece of old proprietary software/firmware you can think of.
Including firmware for PC peripherals, BIOSes, etc.

We, the hacker community, for sure can see technical benefits of having
access to these pieces of source code. For fun, and also for the sake of
documenting the history of computers and software development.

I'm glad to see releases such as the original Prince Of Persia for Apple ][
that have been put online by the own author. (
https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II ) But maybe we could
figure out ways of campaigning for more of such releases. Eighter by
putting the hands on our pockets via crowdfunding campaigns, or by publicly
stating our interest in such source code releases.

The questions I prompt in this email are not without a reason.
I possess a copy of the original source code of an old MSDOS game, but I am
not legally allowed to distribute it. I tried convincing the original
authors to release it into public domain but up to now I was not able to
convince them. They are also not the copyright holders anymore. So I am
trying to figure out a way to proceed and maybe it involves some of the
ideas described here. But let's not limit the discussion to a single title.
I think the topic deserves some brainstorming in general because there's a
whole universe of interesting unreleased source code laying untouched in
old floppies inside cardboard boxes covered in dust.

happy hacking,
Felipe Sanches
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