Topic summary

Public domain software

Public domain software

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Public-domain software.

Classical PD software (pre-1988)

Public domain software in the early computer age was, for instance, shared as type-in programs in computer magazines and books like BASIC Computer Games. Explicit PD waiver statements or license files were at that time unusual. Publicly available software without a copyright notice was assumed to be, and shared as, public-domain software.