unfortunatly we are not the ones which decide if its time for MS to give out licences

and i would said it is a wise decision not to wake up sleeping dogs (just saying this because of some background information)

Edited by - SWAT_OP-R8R on 6/14/2007 1:27:52 AM

Obviously I don't understand half of your response because it's intentionally cryptic. But to the half that you permit me to understand, I say --

Nobody says we're going to decide that Microsoft will now agree to sell the license. I have no idea how you cooked up that idea.

The point is, it's something worth asking about periodically. As time passes, companies change their minds, you know.

I dont think Microsoft sells the license because that would mean you can sell and make profit out of selling the game.

There is a much greater chance that MS will release the source code for non-commercial purposes.

Actually, if MS ever followed its own history, they would lisense it out, as they did in the days of DOS

Edited by - Finalday on 6/14/2007 5:11:16 AM

Considering that Freelancer remains to this day several years later a very popular game, and that Microsoft can still make money from selling it...
They're not going to release the source code nor will they sell the rights to it.
The license is built in the end user agreement and you have to accept that even to play the game.

---

Nobody says we're going to decide that Microsoft will now agree to sell the license. I have no idea how you cooked up that idea.

---

it was an ironical comment on your "I think it's about time for Microsoft to sell the license for Freelancer." which actually is showing the current situation

---

The point is, it's something worth asking about periodically. As time passes, companies change their minds, you know.

---

we are talking about MS right? a company which decided to close many active game rooms and throw out the players just because the MS politics say that games are not supported as soon they reach a specified age
... a company which refused to release licences for tools and old software in the past
sorry but to give out licences is against the concept behind MS

so they wont release anything especially as long they still can make profit out of FL and as long nobody else has a similar net-code

and the "cryptic" stuff i wrote was more about the future of LR as soon MS has no reason to support FL any longer when licences are going to sold
the few ppl which need to understand this will understand it

It might be worth noting that the source code to mechwarrior 2 was released approximately 4 years and 8 months after it was release. It has been approximetly 4 years and 3 months since freelancer was released. Perhaps a little patience could pay off in the long run?

seconded there, blackhole - patience is key since petitions and continued sales of the game haven't convinced them to continue the franchise or release the source

Well, as a publisher you simply cannot release the source code of your game when it is still sold.

Releasing the source code means the game is freeware (since everyone can "build" it)

Cannot wait to see Freelancer as freeware.

The cryptic claim that the transfer of the Freelancer license would threaten lancersreactor.com -- this doesn't make any sense from a legal point of view.

lancersreactor.com itself is protected by multiple "fair use" laws, and while a "mod" is clearly a derivative work, and the distribution of derivative works could be challenged in court, you basically gotta be insane if you think this is a real danger.

The logic is simple: it costs money to challenge something in court, and before you do so, you have to check if it will be worth the risk if you win. So at least you have to benefit as much as you're going to spend on the lawsuit. What would be the monetary benefit, assuming that "mod distribution" could be interrupted by court proceedings?

I submit that the person who made this claim simply hasn't thought this through very well. Instead,

SWAT_OP-R8R simply writes:

> the few ppl which need to understand this will understand it

That's what they said about alphabet soup. Wacka-wacka.

breslin
its pretty simple... you dont have the information about LR that the LR admins have and therefore you dont know about its background... and i am not willing to tell around things that were meant to stay confidential

im not going to publish information that is not supposed to be public but that doesnt deny the fact that what i say is the truth... the site owners know about this issue and besides them nobody else needs to know about it

i am pretty sure that bp and eraser will agree on what i said since this was topic of a long discussion i had with them a few months ago
what i can tell you for sure is that LR is not protected by anything due to its... lets call it: "relation" to MS

Edited by - SWAT_OP-R8R on 6/25/2007 6:14:39 AM

You'll never know til it's asked, so speculation is a waste of time - ask, and find out.

As for the site, MS knows about it - they've got links from the official game page. Furthermore, they DEFINATELY know about mods since Reynen had a storm some time back, whereby he contacted Microsoft over it all (supposedly, open to truthfulness on his part of course, but no reason not to believe him there).

So if they didn't like what was happening, they'd have done something.
They're not, so take from that what you wish

So, I agree, why not ask? Costs nothing, looses nothing afaik... after all, people keep saying it's all dead etc - so what's the problem

Now, whom to contact? That info is required, as is the ability to then formulate a well written letter that's beyond "c4n we hav leik teh source code 4 freelnacer, cos we wnt to h4x is properly leik! k, thx, bai"

Okay, perhaps people are far more eloquent than that... but, meh, you get the idea

>Now, whom to contact?

Sadly, thats the big question.
I thought the LR admins had or may still have contact with the developers?