registering MIAMI software

[Cymric]

lurkist wrote:
I find it impossible to beleive that this is the bottom line.  How can such an advanced piece of software like this be forever crippled?  SOMEONE must know the author and pursuade him to release a public key surely?!?!

You better start believing in the impossible then. Holger Krüse's last messages to the sorry excuse of the 'community' were dripping with venom. He simply does not want to have anything to do with the platform any longer, he has 'moved on' as the saying goes. So in that regard Miami remains crippled.

I wonder what Miami's legal status is. Is it now abandonware? Or fully in the public domain? Or what? The fact that Kruse refuses to acknowledge any form of communication means that it is also impossible to tell what his wishes are. That indicates complete lack of concern for his software, and thus puts the software firmly in the abandonware category, in my very humble opinion. In other words: in this case I don't think being holier than thou is productive, although as a token of respect to the author you could opt for another TCP/IP stack.

[Cymric]

I am not suggesting that the copyright should belong to anyone else besides Krüse. He remains the sole holder. But he has made it impossible for those of good faith to register the software: the site no longer exists, he doesn't respond to any question whatsoever. He doesn't even issue a public statement clarifying the status of the programs. Now, he doesn't need to do that, since the laws which apply in these situations are very strict. Nevertheless, I am at liberty to say I am not happy with this particular situation, even though it will be irrelevant in five year's time (who will be using Miami then), and academic by the year 2070 (when the code officially becomes public domain). I recall that the US government installed a working group not too long ago to see what could be done about this problem: it is not just Miami.

Perhaps it is exactly as Krüse intended... But we will never know, as he no longer responds. That is why I consider Miami 'abandonware', even though the term has no legal basis.

[Cymric]

Plaz wrote:
True. Last time I checked, copyright last for the life of the author plus 77 years. And someone said it was even longer than that. (In the USA anyway)

Ah. I forgot about the author's life span. And indeed in the USA the limit is now 95 years, all because of one cartoon character: Mickey Mouse. It is quite obvious that Disney are adamantly opposed to anything suggesting the Mouse reverts to the public domain, because they would lose their extremely profitable monopoly overnight. At the same time, copyright is not meant to grant you a monopoly for eternity. The fact that Disney rely on the exclusiveness of the copyrights and trademarks of Disney himself indicates that their business model is rotten to the core.

I doubt they will get another extension beyond the current one: it begins to raise nasty questions why the Mouse should hold out for 95+ years, when patents and such for drugs have such a short longevity companies can no longer afford to develop new drugs, as the time to obtain the ROI is too short; in fact they will only develop drugs for Western diseases, leaving tens of millions in underdeveloped and poorer countries in the cold.

But I digress :-).