With the time that we can enjoy microcomputers, software and, especially, video games, old ones fill us with memories, nostalgia and, also, (and why not) it has become an object of collectibles.
With free software there is no problem in collecting it, but what about the one that is not free? That is, with the one that was sold at the time under a commercial license that prohibits its copying without express permission from the company .
Here we have two options: the first is that the production company retains the rights to the software without further ado, with which, to get a legal copy , we must buy it second-hand (or if, by a miracle, we find a new package in a store, which is unlikely).
The second, not very well known to the general public, is to make such software available in the form of abandonware .
We can define abandonware as software that has not only exhausted its useful life, but has also ceased to be a source of income for the company that created it, and does not contain any "secrets" that could endanger integrity, in no meaning, of its successor versions and that, therefore, is freely given to the community.
In other words: when through its successive versions, a program has evolved so much that an old version is no longer sold, nor can it be sold.
Abandonware should not be confused with freeware (modern software that is made available for free) and even less with free software (it does not necessarily have to comply with the four principles).
The making available of a program as abandonware users can respond to different needs. On the one hand we find that of marketing.
For example, a certain program or game may have been very popular at the time, creating large legions of fans and admirers among its users. Publish an old version as abandonware is a look at the past, as the replacement of a television series that despite the great deal of content exists today, like insurance to those who followed in their day.
The second reason for the publication of a program in the form of abandonware may respond to the need of a certain group to use it.
For example, on older computers that, for one reason or another, are still in service, and cannot be updated with new hardware and / or software.
Oddly enough, these cases occur more often than it seems, especially in industrial settings and, more specifically, in computers that must control machinery. Such machinery has a fairly long longevity, and sometimes the accompanying computers are not so easily replaceable, so computers and programs that are long out of date continue to be used.
However, the main motivation for releasing a program under abandonware conditions continues to be collecting.
This is especially palpable in the field of video games. Many people between 30 and 50 years old, played in their youth with titles in eight-bit machines or the first PCs, and although they also play with the titles of today, lavish in high definition graphics and spectacular animations, they He likes to remember “feats” from the past from time to time, as well as showing these titles to his children.
During the last few years, and both as the first users of microcomputers grew and added years, and due to the rise of the Internet, online portals that facilitate the download of abandonware have proliferated.
In the same way, the technology of browsers has reached a point that allows the execution of software through them, with which solutions have been created to be able to execute games and programs in abandonware mode directly from the browser, without having to download and install .