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.
| Title | Original author | Original release | Source code availability | OpenSource compatible | Freeware (data and software) | Complete Free software (DFSG compatible) | New license | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Lumberyard | Amazon | 2002 | 2016 | proprietary license | On 16 August 2017, the source code of the game engine was made freely available under proprietary license terms via GitHub.[3] [4] | ||||
| Apple DOS | Apple Inc. | 1986 | 2015 | non-commercial license | The 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. | 1990 | February 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. | Unknown | 2003 | ? | (non-commercial) | (can't be sold by itself) | custom non-commercial | Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation | |
| Build | Ken Silverman | 1995 | 2000 | own non-commercial license | |||||
| Commodore 64 firmware | Commodore International | 1982 | 2012 | Around 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 II | Activision | 2000 | 2003 | own non-commercial license[11] | Source code was handed to the community to allow them self-support.[12] [13] | ||||
| CuneiForm | Cognitive Technologies | 1993 | 2008 | ? | ? | ? | BSD | Optical character recognition software | |
| Deluxe Paint I (1986) | Electronic Arts | 1996 | 2015 | non-commercial license | Source code of an early version released by Electronic Arts in 2015.[14] | ||||
| Duke Nukem 3D | 3D Realms | 1996 | 2003 | GPL-2.0-or-later | Game code only, no data, no engine. | ||||
| Doom | id Software | 1993 | 1997 | id 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 7.01 | Caldera (company) | 1976 | May 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] | |
| Furby | David Hampton | 1998 | August 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 Classic | The Game Creators | 1999 (?) | February 2016 | undefined | In 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] | RealNetworks | 2002 | ? | RealNetworks Community Source License | The Helix Community is an open collaborative effort to develop and extend the Helix DNA platform.[26] | ||||
| HoverRace | GrokkSoft | 1996 | 2006 | ? | originally time limited license / later non-commercial GrokkSoft HoverRace SourceCode License.[27] | ||||
| Jump 'n Bump | Brainchild Design | 1998 | 1999 | ? | Emailware[28] | Source code released under an emailware license. | |||
| Java | Sun Microsystems | 1995 | 1998 | Sun Community Source License | In 1998 Sun Microsystems released much of Java under the terms of the Sun Community Source License.[29] | ||||
| MacPaint | Apple Inc. | 1984 | 2010 | non-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: Durandal | Bungie | 1995 | 2000 | GPL-3.0-or-later | The 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 Limited | 201? | 2017 | MEGA Limited Code Review License | Mega 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 2.0 | Microsoft | 1982 | 2018 | MIT | On 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 1.1a | Microsoft | 1991 | 2014 | Microsoft 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] | ||||
| MidasWWW | Tony Johnson and Chung Huynh | 1992 | 2015 | ? | ? | unspecified | 16 November 1992 sources were made available in June 2015 at GitHub without specified license.[39] [40] | ||
| NASA | 1960 | 2001 | ? | ? | ? | own license | In 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 2.7 | NCSA | 1993 | March 2010[44] | ? | ? | own license[45] | first graphical browser | ||
| NetBeans | 1997 | October 2007 | Apache-2.0 | An integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other programming languages | |||||
| Netscape Enterprise Server | Sun Microsystems | January 2009 | ? | ? | BSD | Sun Microsystems open sourced it.[46] | |||
| PhysX | Nvidia | 2004 | 2015 | 3-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) | 1989 | 1996 | ? | ? | ? | own license[49] | Before 1996 under BSD license, it was switched to a proprietary license while still having the source code available.[50] | ||
| Quake | id Software | 1996 | 1999 | GPL-2.0-or-later | The map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006. | ||||
| Rise of the Triad | 3D Realms | 1994 | 2002 | GPL-2.0-or-later | Only the code was released under the GPL-2.0-or-later. | ||||
| Stellar Frontier | Stardock | 1997 | 2008[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 System | Scytl | unknown | 2021[53] | own license | The 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. | ||||
| Symbian | Nokia | 1997 (as Psion EPOC32)[55] | 2010[56] | EPL / Nokia Symbian License[57] | |||||
| Take 2 | Cellsoft / 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/eCos | Technicolor | 2008 | 2015 | ? | GPLv2, lGPL, eCos 2.0 license[60] | Released on GitHub on 30. November 2015.[61] [62] | |||
| v8 Unix, v9, v10 | Unix Heritage Society and Alcatel-Lucent | 1985 | 2017 | non-copyright enforcement grant on non-commercial usage | In 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". | ||||
| Unrar | Rarlabs | 1995 | 2000 | own unrar license[64] | Unrar source code was released by Eugene Roshal/RARlabs sometime in 2000. A GPL fork of older codebase exists.[65] | ||||
| Unreal Engine | Epic Games | 1998 | 2014 | own unrar license | |||||
| Warzone 2100 | Pumpkin Studios/Eidos Interactive | March 1999 | December 2004 | (only movies not)[66] | (GPL-2.0-or-later, only movies not) | GPL-2.0-or-later | Video game by Eidos Interactive | ||
| Watcom C compiler | Watcom | 1988 | 2003 | Sybase Open Watcom Public License | Released 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 Alto | Computer History Museum | 1975 | 2014 | own non-commercial license | On 21 October 2014, Xerox Alto's source code and other resources were released from the Computer History Museum.[69] |