this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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Gaming
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ehhh i hear you, "abandonware" can be defined as "software which is no longer supported or updated", but that is a very broad definition. I think one could also define abandonware as "software which is no longer supported or updated, and which has no clear IP owner anymore", and I think that that is the colloquial definition for a lot of people. I think we need a new word for one of these two definitions.
Fair point. I think there needs to be a legal definition of IP's that no longer have a claimant and therefore go public domain by default. If nobody can show ownership then nobody owns it.
lord, if only we lived in a world where things made sense...
Too true.
I propose "orphanware" for that subset of abandonware that has no clear owner.
Consistent with the broader term "orphan work".