Support for obsolete products

From: Lawrence Walker <lwalker_at_mail.interlog.com>
Date: Sun May 10 01:22:54 1998

On 6 May 98 at 19:36, Tony Duell wrote:

> > in it. But what about a non-profit organization for products that
> > absolutely no one wants to support? Just send them the docs
> > and let them archive them. Companies donate old office equipment
> > to good causes, why not old docs or source code?
>
> Well, I'm sure we all think that would be a Good Thing, but just try
> convincing companies of that.
>
> IMHO, somebody should pass a law that says 'If a company refuses to
> support a product, all documentation (schematics, sources, etc) should be
> made available to owners of said product (or anyone :-))'. And with stiff
> penalties for companies who loose documentation. It would be a lot more
> use than some of the silly laws we have these days.
>
> Alas none of us are in a position to pass laws...
>
 I'll second both of these motions !
 Unfortunately , all too often manufacturers (and software houses)
are in it for the quick buck, and abandon the product as soon as there
is no longer (in their opinion) adequate return. But they will sit on their
copyrights and prevent any use or improvement of the product. Many
never even back up their product with parts, docs etc.in the first place. I
seem to remember that auto-manufacturers had to supply parts for a certain
number of years after production. This should be built in to copyright
protection, which could make copyright documentation available after Xn period
of time if products (or ideas for that matter) were not supported or available
. The infamous Atari ST Freeze-Dried Terminal program incident comes to mind
here as well as those of Broderbund, Symantec ,et al, sell-offs to other
companies and disclaiming any further responsabilities. IBM has been one of the
best for support (if somewhat pricey) and now has discontinued support for PS2
and PS1 computers.Then in this case they should also have to give up rights to
MCA so that 3rd party developers could continue development.
  This way consumers would also have some protection and these companies would
not be so quick to abandon them. It would also provide more of a barier against
shoddy manufacturing practices .

Rant mode off.

ciao larry
lwalker_at_interlog.com
Received on Sun May 10 1998 - 01:22:54 BST