Highland Ham wrote:
It's a shame there is not a law that allows software to be used freely
after x years of no new updates.

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If older software is no longer of commercial gain to the
developer(s),he/she/they can always declare it to be licensed under the
GPL = General Public Licence as established through the Free Software
Foundation .


Assuming the author actually wants this to happen. Heck, the author
could go one step further and just declare it to be Public Domain.

However, there are good reasons why an author may not want their
software used. Maybe it has an egregious bug that would lead to
endangering public safety? Maybe it caused some legal problem and the
author has been required to cease distribution and support? Maybe the
author just decided to not have anyone use it anymore.. It is the
author's *right* to do so, which is why it is called copyright.


Also, don't confuse copyright (which controls copying) and any licensing
agreements (which might control copying, or use, or anything else).

I've done software for which copyright protection was immaterial, since
it was protected as a "trade secret" and it was licensed under the
condition that the user not further disclose it, with substantial
liquidated damages if they did.



Under the GPL the software can then be modified , sold by
anybody which MIGHT extends its useful life.
Much Linux software is covered by the GPL (current version 3)

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH