List of proprietary source-available software explained

This is a list of proprietary source-available software, which has available source code, but is not classified as free software or open-source software. In some cases, this type of software is originally sold and released without the source code, and the source code becomes available later. Sometimes, the source code is released under a liberal software license at its end of life. This type of software can also have its source code leaked or reverse engineered.

While such software often later becomes open source software or public domain, other constructs and software licenses exist, for instance shared source or creative commons licenses.[1] [2] If the source code is given out without specified license or public domain waiver it has legally to be considered as still proprietary due to the Berne Convention.

For a list of video game software with available source code, see List of commercial video games with available source code. For specifically formerly proprietary software which is now free software, see List of formerly proprietary software.

TitleOriginal authorOriginal releaseSource code availabilityOpenSource compatibleFreeware (data and software)Complete Free software (DFSG compatible)New licenseNotes
Amazon LumberyardAmazon20022016proprietary licenseOn 16 August 2017, the source code of the game engine was made freely available under proprietary license terms via GitHub.[3] [4]
Apple DOSApple Inc.19862015non-commercial licenseThe Apple DOS source code was released by the Computer History Museum[5] after Paul Laughton, the creator of the code, donated it.[6]
Photoshop 1.0.1[7] Adobe Systems Inc.1990February 2013[8] ?Computer History Museum Software License (non-commercial license)Adobe Systems Inc. made the source code of the 1990 version 1.0.1 of Photoshop available to the Computer History Museum. Includes all the code with the exception of the MacApp applications library which was licensed from Apple.
Bitstream Vera (font)Bitstream Inc.Unknown2003? (non-commercial) (can't be sold by itself)custom non-commercialThrough the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation
BuildKen Silverman19952000own non-commercial license
Commodore 64 firmwareCommodore International19822012Around 2012 Dennis Jarvis, ex-Commodore engineer, made material and source code of the development history of the C64 available.[9] Later the source code was cleaned up, reformated and made build-able again in a GitHub projects by enthusiasts.[10]
Call to Power IIActivision20002003own non-commercial license[11] Source code was handed to the community to allow them self-support.[12] [13]
CuneiFormCognitive Technologies19932008???BSDOptical character recognition software
Deluxe Paint I (1986)Electronic Arts19962015non-commercial licenseSource code of an early version released by Electronic Arts in 2015.[14]
Duke Nukem 3D3D Realms19962003GPL-2.0-or-laterGame code only, no data, no engine.
Doomid Software19931997id software license[15] /later GPLv2+Code only. Originally released under a restrictive license in 1997, in 1999 re-licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later.
DR-DOS/Caldera OpenDOS 7.01Caldera (company)1976May 1997???Caldera's OpenDOS End-User License Agreement[16] The Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 source code was a base for the DR-DOS/OpenDOS Enhancement Project in 2002.[17]
FurbyDavid Hampton1998August 2018???Public Domain (?)In August 2018, after contacting the US patent office, a PDF scan of the toy's assembler language firmware from the patent's appendix became available on the internet.[18] [19] Later it was archived by the Internet Archive,[20] and then manually corrected and transcribed to assemble-able code again by an enthusiast.[21]
FPS Creator ClassicThe Game Creators1999 (?)February 2016undefinedIn February 2016 authors decided to release "FPS Creator" as "FPS Creator Classic" source available (no defined license) with many model packs on github.com.[22] [23]
Helix (multimedia project)[24] [25] RealNetworks2002?RealNetworks Community Source LicenseThe Helix Community is an open collaborative effort to develop and extend the Helix DNA platform.[26]
HoverRaceGrokkSoft19962006?originally time limited license / later non-commercial GrokkSoft HoverRace SourceCode License.[27]
Jump 'n BumpBrainchild Design19981999?Emailware[28] Source code released under an emailware license.
JavaSun Microsystems19951998Sun Community Source LicenseIn 1998 Sun Microsystems released much of Java under the terms of the Sun Community Source License.[29]
MacPaintApple Inc.19842010non-commercial license[30] MacPaint 1.3's source code (written in a combination of Assembly and Pascal) is available through the Computer History Museum, along with the QuickDraw source code.[31]
Marathon 2: DurandalBungie19952000GPL-3.0-or-laterThe code was released under the GPL-2.0-or-later, then GPL-3.0-or-later, while the data is still proprietary. Now known as Aleph One
Mega (service)Mega Limited201?2017MEGA Limited Code Review LicenseMega Limited released the source code to their client-side software around 28 January 2017 under an own license on github.com.[32] [33]
MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0Microsoft19822018MITOn 25 March 2014 Microsoft made the code to MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 available to the public under a Microsoft Research License for educational purposes.[34] [35] In 2018 they relicensed them under MIT license.[36]
Microsoft Word for Windows version 1.1aMicrosoft19912014Microsoft Research License (non-commercial license)Microsoft made the source code of the 1991 version of Word available to the Computer History Museum and to the public for educational purposes.[37] [38]
MidasWWWTony Johnson and Chung Huynh19922015??unspecified16 November 1992 sources were made available in June 2015 at GitHub without specified license.[39] [40]
NASA19602001???own licenseIn 2001 the NASA released with the "NASA Classics" package also the Finite Element Analysis simulator's source code to the public for free.[41] [42] [43]
NCSA Mosaic 2.7NCSA1993March 2010[44] ??own license[45] first graphical browser
NetBeans1997October 2007Apache-2.0An integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other programming languages
Netscape Enterprise ServerSun MicrosystemsJanuary 2009??BSDSun Microsystems open sourced it.[46]
PhysXNvidia200420153-clause BSD license (Proprietary until 2018 except for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch)[47] At GDC 2015, Nvidia made the PhysX' source code available on GitHub, but requires registration on developer.nvidia.com and EULA signing.[48]
Since December 2018, Nvidia relicensed the PhysX' source code under the 3-clause BSD license for Apple iOS, macOS, Google Android ARM, Linux, and Microsoft Windows
Pine (email client)19891996???own license[49] Before 1996 under BSD license, it was switched to a proprietary license while still having the source code available.[50]
Quakeid Software19961999GPL-2.0-or-laterThe map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006.
Rise of the Triad3D Realms19942002GPL-2.0-or-laterOnly the code was released under the GPL-2.0-or-later.
Stellar FrontierStardock19972008[51] Stardock Shared Source Stellar Frontier License (non-commercial license)[52] Stellar Frontier is a multiplayer space strategy/shooter game made by Doug Hendrix in 1995 and published by Stardock. Stardock closed the master server on 4 August 2006, ceasing official support for multiplayer mode but released the source code under a shared source license in 2008.
Swiss Post E-Voting SystemScytlunknown2021[53] own licenseThe software was originally developed by Scytl, but purchased by Swiss Post in 2020.[54] Some parts of the system are released under an open source license, but the main part is not.
SymbianNokia1997 (as Psion EPOC32)[55] 2010[56] EPL / Nokia Symbian License[57]
Take 2Cellsoft / Geert Vergauwe?2015"open source freeware"The popular animation software for the Amiga was gifted in 2015 to the community by the original developer, including the 68k assembly source code.[58] [59]
Technicolor TC72xx chipset cable modem firmware/eCosTechnicolor20082015?GPLv2, lGPL, eCos 2.0 license[60] Released on GitHub on 30. November 2015.[61] [62]
v8 Unix, v9, v10Unix Heritage Society and Alcatel-Lucent19852017non-copyright enforcement grant on non-commercial usageIn 2017, Unix Heritage Society and Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., on behalf of itself and Nokia Bell Laboratories, released v8, v9, v10 under the condition:[63] "will not assert its copyright rights with respect to any non-commercial copying, distribution, performance, display or creation of derivative works of Research Unix®1 Editions 8, 9, and 10".
UnrarRarlabs19952000own unrar license[64] Unrar source code was released by Eugene Roshal/RARlabs sometime in 2000. A GPL fork of older codebase exists.[65]
Unreal EngineEpic Games19982014own unrar license
Warzone 2100Pumpkin Studios/Eidos InteractiveMarch 1999December 2004 (only movies not)[66] (GPL-2.0-or-later, only movies not)GPL-2.0-or-laterVideo game by Eidos Interactive
Watcom C compilerWatcom19882003Sybase Open Watcom Public LicenseReleased as Open Watcom, under a license which is considered free by the OSI[67] but not by the FSF. The FSF has problems with the license as it demands more freedom than the GPL by requiring the release of source code also in the case of private use.[68]
Xerox AltoComputer History Museum19752014own non-commercial licenseOn 21 October 2014, Xerox Alto's source code and other resources were released from the Computer History Museum.[69]

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.rosenlaw.com/pdf-files/Rosen_Ch11.pdf Shared Source, Eventual Source, and Other Licensing Models – Alternatives to Open Source
  2. http://oreilly.com/openbook/osfreesoft/book/ch05.pdf CHAPTER 5 Non-Open Source Licenses
  3. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gamedev/now-available-lumberyard-on-github/ Lumberyard & Amazon GameLift: Now Available – Lumberyard on GitHub
  4. https://github.com/aws/Lumberyard/blob/master/LICENSE.txt license
  5. Web site: Apple II DOS source code . Len . Shustek . 12 November 2013 . 30 November 2013 . computerhistory.org . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20131129210811/http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/apple-ii-dos-source-code/ . 29 November 2013 .
  6. Web site: Apple II's 35-year-old operating system is now open to the public . 13 November 2013 . engadget.com . 22 August 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141026184526/http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/13/apple-ii-dos-source-code-museum/ . 26 October 2014 .
  7. Web site: Adobe Photoshop Source Code . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140507131754/http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/adobe-photoshop-source-code/ . 7 May 2014 .
  8. Web site: Adobe releases original Photoshop source code for nostalgic developers . Bryan . Bishop . 14 February 2013 . 15 October 2013 . theverge.com . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140117094242/http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/14/3990378/original-adobe-photoshop-source-code-now-available-for-free . 17 January 2014 .
  9. http://6502.org/users/sjgray/dj/ Dennis Jarvis Page
  10. https://github.com/mist64/c64rom c64rom
  11. Web site: Apolyton Civilization Site – Call to Power II Source Code End User License Agreement . Apolyton Civilization Site . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121109035952/http://apolyton.net/content.php/318-Call-to-Power-II-Source-Code-End-User-License-Agreement . 9 November 2012 .
  12. Web site: Opening the Source of Art . 1 October 2009 . John . Bell . [...]that no further patches to the title would be forthcoming. The community was predictably upset. Instead of giving up on the game, users decided that if Activision wasn't going to fix the bugs, they would. They wanted to save the game by getting Activision to open the source so it could be kept alive beyond the point where Activision lost interest. With some help from members of the development team that were active on fan forums, they were eventually able to convince Activision to release Call to Power II's source code in October of 2003. . Technology Innovation Management Review . 30 December 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140330084636/http://timreview.ca/article/294 . 30 March 2014 .
  13. Web site: Apolyton CTP2 News Archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20050302065926/http://apolyton.net/news/index.php?Category=CtP2&month=200309. dead. 2 March 2005.
  14. Web site: Electronic Arts DeluxePaint Early Source Code . Len . Shustek . 12 November 2013 . 22 July 2015 . computerhistory.org . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150723003842/http://www.computerhistory.org/_static/atchm/electronic-arts-deluxepaint-early-source-code/ . 23 July 2015 .
  15. Web site: Updated Doom user license / EULA? – Doomworld Forums . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140826121924/http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/55890-updated-doom-user-license-eula/ . 26 August 2014 .
  16. ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/pc/caldera/OpenDOS.701/license.txt license.txt
  17. http://www.drdosprojects.de/ Welcome to the DR-DOS/OpenDOS Enhancement Project!
  18. https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/08/13/take-a-look-inside-the-furbys-source-code/ take-a-look-inside-the-furbys-source-code
  19. http://www.seanriddle.com/furbysource.pdf furbysource.pdf
  20. https://archive.org/details/furby-source/ furby-source
  21. https://github.com/gnomon-/furby-source furby-source
  22. https://www.thegamecreators.com/product/fps-creator-classic-open-source FPS Creator Classic Open Source
  23. https://github.com/LeeBamberTGC/FPS-Creator-Classic FPS-Creator-Classic
  24. ZDNet UK (5 December 2002) RealNetworks opens more Helix DNA, Retrieved on 2 August 2009
  25. ZDNet UK (6 August 2003) RealNetworks releases player code for Linux, Retrieved on 2 August 2009
  26. Helix Community About Helix Community, Retrieved on 5 August 2009
  27. Web site: Archived copy . 18 August 2014 . 17 October 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211017185759/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HoverRace/HoverRace/master/license.txt . live .
  28. http://brainchilddesign.com/Bottom.php?Page=Games&SubPage=JnB Jump 'n Bump
  29. News: Mike . Loukides . Some Thoughts on the Sun Community Source License . 1 March 1999 . . 7 April 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080512162047/http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/java/news/loukides_0399.html . 12 May 2008 .
  30. Web site: MacPaint and QuickDraw Source Code . . 20 July 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120822153909/http://www.computerhistory.org/highlights/macpaint/ . 22 August 2012 .
  31. Web site: Apple Donates MacPaint Source Code To Computer History Museum . https://web.archive.org/web/20120209010310/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2010/07/apple_donates_macpaint_source_code_to_computer_history_museum.html . 9 February 2012 . businessweek.com . 20 July 2010 . Erik . Hesseldahl.
  32. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13505754 MEGA source code
  33. https://github.com/meganz meganz
  34. TechNet Blogs, Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public, Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  35. News: Phipps . Simon . Psych! Microsoft didn't really open-source MS-DOS . InfoWorld . 26 March 2014 . 27 March 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140328073244/http://www.infoworld.com/t/open-source-software/psych-microsoft-didnt-really-open-source-ms-dos-239111 . 28 March 2014 .
  36. Web site: Daws . Ryan . 2018-10-01 . Microsoft open sources MS-DOS (for real this time!) . 2023-01-28 . Developer Tech News . en-GB.
  37. Web site: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public . 25 March 2014 . Roy . Levin . Official Microsoft Blog . 29 March 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140328094124/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/03/25/microsoft-makes-source-code-for-ms-dos-and-word-for-windows-available-to-public.aspx . 28 March 2014 .
  38. Web site: Microsoft Word for Windows Version 1.1a Source Code . Len . Shustek . 24 March 2014 . 29 March 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140328142332/http://www.computerhistory.org/_static/atchm/microsoft-word-for-windows-1-1a-source-code/ . 28 March 2014 .
  39. Web site: Connolly. Dan. source to MidasWWW from 1992. World Wide Web Consortium. 23 June 2015. 13 June 2015. 3 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200803100144/https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webhistory/2015Jun/0000.html. live.
  40. https://github.com/dckc/MidasWWW midasWWW
  41. https://web.archive.org/web/20011103023757/http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171514.html NASA Releases Classic Software To Public Domain
  42. https://developers.slashdot.org/story/01/10/26/1354241/nasa-releases-classic-software-to-public-domain nasa-releases-classic-software-to-public-domain
  43. http://www.openchannelsoftware.com/NASA_1.html NTTC, OSC Celebrate Space Agency's Birthday, Launch "NASA CLASSICS" Software Apps to Commercial Markets
  44. http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/03/browse-the-web-as-it-looked-in-1993 Browse the Web as it Looked in 1993
  45. Web site: ncsa-mosaic/COPYRIGHT . 8 March 2010 . . Alan . Dipert . 8 March 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100418201738/http://github.com/alandipert/ncsa-mosaic/blob/master/COPYRIGHT . 18 April 2010 .
  46. Web site: Announcing Open Source Web Server . https://web.archive.org/web/20090209043835/http://blogs.sun.com/jyrivirkki/date/20090113 . 9 February 2009 . sun.com . 13 January 2009 . 23 April 2012 . Jyri. Virkki.
  47. Web site: PhysX SDK 4.0 Available Now . . 12 February 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181203154727/https://news.developer.nvidia.com/announcing-physx-sdk-4-0-an-open-source-physics-engine/ . 3 December 2018 .
  48. Web site: PhysX on GitHub . . 6 March 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150323140008/https://developer.nvidia.com/physx-source-github . 23 March 2015 .
  49. Web site: Linux Today - Chris Allegretta: When Non-Free is "Free Enough" . 30 May 2013 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20130120030919/http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2001070202521OPCYDB . 20 January 2013 . Chris Allegretta: When Non-Free is "Free Enough"
  50. Web site: Re: DFSG vs Pine's legal notices: where exactly is the gotcha?. lists.debian.org. 18 August 2014. 2 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150602032805/https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2002/11/msg00138.html. live.
  51. http://stellarfrontier.net/ stellarfrontier.net/
  52. https://web.archive.org/web/20131014172305/http://stellarfrontier.net/sf12source.rar stellar_frontier_source_eula.txt
  53. https://www.evoting-blog.ch/en/pages/2021/the-source-code-of-the-future-e-voting-system-is-publicly-accessible
  54. https://www.evoting-blog.ch/en/pages/2020/an-e-voting-system-for-switzerland-and-by-switzerland
  55. Web site: infoSync Interviews Nokia Nseries Executive . Infosyncworld.com . 24 June 2010 . 12 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713032146/http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/11070.html . 13 July 2011.
  56. Menezes, Gary. (11 September 2010) Symbian OS, Now Fully Open Source . Watblog.com. Retrieved on 25 September 2011.
  57. Web site: Not Open Source, just Open for Business . https://web.archive.org/web/20120316105331/http://symbian.nokia.com/blog/2011/04/04/not-open-source-just-open-for-business/ . 16 March 2012 . symbian.nokia.com . 4 April 2011 . 23 August 2014.
  58. http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69866 Take 2 Animation software gifted to the Amiga Community
  59. http://www.danschallock.com/amiga/take2/index.html Take 2 Animation for the Amiga Computer
  60. http://www3.technicolor.com/en/hi/minisites/open-software/dsl-cable-ip-modem-gateways/cable-gateways cable gateways
  61. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Technicolor-Opens-TC72 A Popular European Cable Modem Is Now Open-Source
  62. https://github.com/tch-opensrc tch-opensrc
  63. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/30/old_unix_source_code_opened_for_study/ Samizdat no more: Old Unix source code opened for study
  64. Web site: Licensing:Unrar – FedoraProject . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150106195558/https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing%3AUnrar?rd=Licensing%2FUnrar . 6 January 2015 .
  65. Web site: Home of unrarlib – UniquE RAR File Library – License . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140713041401/http://www.unrarlib.org/license.html . 13 July 2014 .
  66. Web site: Warzone 2100 Content License . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150106161138/http://forums.wz2100.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=858 . 6 January 2015 .
  67. Web site: SPDX License List | Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX). spdx.org. 23 December 2015. 24 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151224052522/https://spdx.org/licenses/. live.
  68. Web site: Various Licenses and Comments about Them – Sybase Open Watcom Public License version 1.0 (#Watcom) . gnu.org . 23 December 2015 . This is not a free software license. It requires you to publish the source code publicly whenever you "Deploy" the covered software, and "Deploy" is defined to include many kinds of private use. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100724023833/https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html . 24 July 2010 .
  69. Web site: Xerox Alto Source Code – The roots of the modern personal computer . With the permission of the Palo Alto Research Center, the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use only, snapshots of Alto source code, executables, documentation, font files, and other files from 1975 to 1987. . . Paul . McJones . Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series . 21 October 2014 . 8 January 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150102201034/http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/xerox-alto-source-code/ . 2 January 2015 .