What Does This Mean?
Software, most often old computer games, that is no longer sold or supported by its maker and is often shared for free online. The word suggests the software is free to take, but that is not a legal status.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The classic adventure game is abandonware in the sense that nobody sells it, but the publisher still owns it.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Wikipedia credits Peter Ringering with coining the word in late 1996 and with founding the Abandonware Ring, a webring of classic-game sites, in February 1997. It states that abandonware is generally not public domain: copyright is not lost through abandonment, US law does not recognise the category, and sharing is usually treated as infringement even though rights holders rarely enforce it. A 2006 DMCA exemption lets libraries and archives circumvent protection on obsolete software for preservation, not for general distribution.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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