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

[Taylor Alexander]

Its something I've wanted to see happen. I feel like one way may be to set
up a non profit that takes over stewardship of the code (by giving them
some kind of legally binding agreement the foundation would follow, that
makes the companies feel safe but also allows freedom for the code), and
also works to build relationships with companies that are willing to open
source their old stuff, slowly getting them to release more and more over
time. Start with small companies and try to see who knows who who to see if
you can get some big names to support the project.

Start it as a website, and post to hacker news to get more eyes on it
maybe? Perhaps start by collecting what source has been shared (doom,
prince of Persia, whatever you can find).
On Jul 15, 2013 7:45 PM, "Felipe Sanches" <juca at members.fsf.org> wrote:

> ping.
>
> Any comments?
>
> On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 9:18 PM, Felipe Sanches <juca at members.fsf.org>wrote:
>
>> 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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