Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!logicon.com!trantor.harris-atd.com!charybdis!sonny
From: sonny@charybdis.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: ?: Name for Copyrighted but FREE Software.
Summary: It ain't PD *or* Shareware.
Message-ID: <4076@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Date: 3 Aug 90 15:34:50 GMT
Sender: news@trantor.harris-atd.com
Reply-To: sonny@trantor.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis)
Organization: Advanced Technology Dept., Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fl.
Lines: 28
X-Local-Date: 3 Aug 90 08:34:50 PDT


	There are marvelous software packages for IBM compatibles that
are truly Public Domain. For one reason or another, the author has
relinquished ALL rights and you can legally do with it what you please--
including sell it (if you can find a buyer). It is proper to call ONLY
such software Public Domain (is it not?).
	But another considerable class of software is copyrighted software 
that the author has made FREE for personal, non-commercial use. However,
you usually cannot sell such software for profit without additional
licensing and fees. There is a big difference between PD on the one hand, 
and Copyrighted but Free for personal use on the other. It is NOT right 
to call such software Public Domain.
	I've often felt the need for a name to describe such software.
Perhaps there IS such a name and I simply do not know it. At one time
I thought "Freeware" was the right term, but then I saw that term used to
describe what is more widely known as Shareware.

	What do we call software that is Copyrighted but Free for
personal use? "Public Domain" won't do--it is misleading, just as
is the widespread tendency to describe Shareware as being Public Domain.
	

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