Software Becoming Proprietary
Until the late 1960s computers—huge and expensive mainframe machines in specially air-conditioned computer rooms—were usually supplied on a lease rather than purchase basis. Service and all software available were usually supplied by manufacturers without separate charge until 1969. Software source code was usually provided. Users who developed software often made it available, without charge. Customers who purchased expensive mainframe hardware did not pay separately for software.
In 1969 IBM, under threat of Antitrust litigation, led an industry change by starting to charge separately for (mainframe) software and services, and ceasing to supply source code.
Read more about this topic: Proprietary Software
Famous quotes containing the word proprietary:
“Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field. No one owns them or has a proprietary right to dictate how they will be used.”
—David Lehman (b. 1948)