Editing Commercial software (section)

== Background and challenge ==
While [[software]] creation by [[Computer programming|programming]] is a time and labor-intensive process, comparable to the creation of physical [[Good (economics)|goods]], the reproduction, duplication and sharing of software as [[digital goods]] is in comparison disproportionately easy. No special machines or expensive additional resources are required, unlike almost all physical goods and products. Once the software is created it can be copied in infinite numbers, for almost zero cost, by anyone. This made [[commercialization]] of software for the [[mass market]] in the beginning of the [[Computer revolution|computing era]] impossible. Unlike hardware, it was not seen as trade-able and commercialize-able good. Software was plainly shared for free ([[hacker culture]]) or distributed [[Product bundling|bundled]] with sold hardware, as part of the service to make the hardware usable for the customer.

Due to changes in the computer industry in the 1970s and 1980s, software slowly became a commercial good by itself. In 1969, IBM, under threat of [[antitrust]] litigation, led the industry change by [[History of IBM#1960–1969: The System/360 era, Unbundling software and services|starting to charge separately for (mainframe) software]]<ref>Pugh, Emerson W. ''Origins of Software Bundling.'' ''IEEE Annals of the History of Computing'', Vol. 24, No. 1 (Jan–Mar 2002): pp. 57–58.</ref><ref>Hamilton, Thomas W., ''IBM's unbundling decision: Consequences for users and the industry'', Programming 1Sciences Corporation, 1969.</ref> and services, and ceasing to supply source code.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/decade_1960.html
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216110709/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/decade_1960.html
| url-status=dead
| archive-date=December 16, 2004
| title=Chronological History of IBM - 1960s 
| date=23 January 2003 
| publisher=[[IBM]]
| quote=''Rather than offer hardware, services and software exclusively in packages, marketers ''unbundled'' the components and offered them for sale individually. Unbundling gave birth to the multibillion-dollar software and services industries, of which IBM is today a world leader'' | access-date=2010-11-12}}</ref> In 1983 binary software became copyrightable by the ''[[Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp.|Apple vs. Franklin]]'' law decision,<ref>[http://www.internetlegal.com/impact-of-apple-vs-franklin-decision/ Impact of Apple vs. Franklin Decision]</ref> before only source code was copyrightable.<ref name="landley2009">{{cite web|url=http://landley.net/notes-2009.html |first=Rob |last=Landley |publisher=landley.net |access-date=2015-12-02 |date=2009-05-23 |quote=''So if open source used to be the norm back in the 1960s and 1970s, how did this _change_? Where did proprietary software come from, and when, and how? How did Richard Stallman's little utopia at the MIT AI lab crumble and force him out into the wilderness to try to rebuild it? Two things changed in the early-1980s: the exponentially growing installed base of microcomputer hardware reached critical mass around 1980, and a legal decision altered copyright law to cover binaries in 1983. Increasing volume: The microprocessor creates millions of identical computers'' |title=23-05-2009}}</ref> Additionally, the growing availability of millions of computers based on the same [[microprocessor]] architecture created for the first time a compatible mass market worth and ready for binary [[retail software]] commercialization.<ref name="landley2009"/>