Software limited to certain hardware configurations

Proprietary software may also have licensing terms that limit the usage of that
software to a specific set of hardware. Apple has such a licensing model for macOS,
an operating system which is limited to Apple hardware, both by licensing and
various design decisions. This licensing model has been affirmed by the United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[48]

Abandonment by proprietors
Main article: Abandonware
Proprietary software which is no longer marketed, supported or sold by its owner is
called abandonware, the digital form of orphaned works. If the proprietor of a
software package should cease to exist, or decide to cease or limit production or
support for a proprietary software package, recipients and users of the package may
have no recourse if problems are found with the software. Proprietors can fail to
improve and support software because of business problems.[49] Support for older or
existing versions of a software package may be ended to force users to upgrade and
pay for newer versions[50](planned obsolescence). Sometimes another vendor or a
software's community themselves can provide support for the software, or the users
can migrate to either competing systems with longer support life cycles or to FOSS-
based systems.[51]

Some proprietary software is released by their owner at end-of-life as open-source

or source available software, often to prevent the software from becoming
unsupported and unavailable abandonware.[52][53][54] 3D Realms and id Software are
famous for the practice of releasing closed source software into the open source.
[further explanation needed] Some of those kinds are free-of-charge downloads
(freeware), some are still commercially sold (e.g. Arx Fatalis).[further
explanation needed] More examples of formerly closed-source software in the List of
commercial software with available source code and List of commercial video games
with available source code.

Pricing and economics

See also: Commercial software
Proprietary software is not synonymous with commercial software,[55][56] although
the two terms are sometimes used synonymously in articles about free software.[57]
[58] Proprietary software can be distributed at no cost or for a fee, and free
software can be distributed at no cost or for a fee.[59] The difference is that
whether proprietary software can be distributed, and what the fee would be, is at
the proprietor's discretion. With free software, anyone who has a copy can decide
whether, and how much, to charge for a copy or related services.[60]

Proprietary software that comes for no cost is called freeware.

Proponents of commercial proprietary software argue that requiring users to pay for
software as a product increases funding or time available for the research and
development of software. For example, Microsoft says that per-copy fees maximize
the profitability of software development.[61]

Proprietary software generally creates greater commercial activity over free

software, especially in regard to market revenues.[62] Proprietary software is
often sold with a license that gives the end user right to use the software.

See also
Business software
Commercial off-the-shelf
Comparison of open-source and closed-source software
Proprietary hardware
Retail software
Enshittification
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