Thanks Joseph for the explanation......but I was not asking the questions because I needed answers. I was asking the questions in the method of questions against our conscience. Is what we do with this "old software versions" stuff acceptable to the community at large? Is it legal? Have we done our homework and know if we do an acceptable thing? Have we checked with the vendor of the product?

Now I have to comment further about issues you have raised. Just becasue a software package is old does not mean that it will be free to use at will. First off a copyright, once declared, is good for something like 99 years or the life of the originator. Second, most of the old software packages were originally SOLD under a license for use. The terms of that license specificed the usage terms and not how old the software has to become before the stuff evaporates. In fact most license agreements do not confer ownership rights of the software but instead provide limited scope USAGE rights. As such the age of the software has little or nothing to do with making arbitrary individual decisions about whether something is now free. On top of that just because one company like Borland has decided to convert certain old products to public domain does not say anything about how another company may feel about how older versions of their product may be used!! In fact in the EDA market place the vendors may feel rather strongly that sites and persons that were licensed to use older versions of their products are prime targets for upgrade contracts.

Michael Karas