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QUOTE That license explicitly restricts commercial use - it's released for personal and academic use, which is really generous, but it is definitely limited.
Posting the game on Desura probably won't fly. I'll have our lawyer check to be sure.
I have exactly one contact at MSFT that may have a chance at getting this to the right person. Will try him in the morning. Seems unlikely based on that license.[/quote]

QUOTE I'm sure the community would still be interested even if MS still gained some income from it. We're not interested in making money off of the game, perhaps some to help keep the servers up, but it's definitely about getting people to play, not making money.
Thank you for the update[/quote]

Hey guys, sorry I have been away so long. I am not a lawyer by any means, but Isn't there a statute of limitations if a software is not continuously developed by the company that designed it, that it can become public domain? I agree that we should get some legal counsel to see if we can get MS to release the rights to the game. They will probably want us to pay a lump sum of money to them to do this. I wonder if a shareholder would have any kind of sway in this decision? If so, I would invest in some Microsoft stock immediately. If there is anything I can do to help, I would be willing to try.

Yup. 75 years.

Welcome back,Chak!

chakotae wrote:QUOTE (chakotae @ Mar 13 2015, 09:52 PM) Hey guys, sorry I have been away so long. I am not a lawyer by any means, but Isn't there a statute of limitations if a software is not continuously developed by the company that designed it, that it can become public domain? I agree that we should get some legal counsel to see if we can get MS to release the rights to the game. They will probably want us to pay a lump sum of money to them to do this. I wonder if a shareholder would have any kind of sway in this decision? If so, I would invest in some Microsoft stock immediately. If there is anything I can do to help, I would be willing to try.

IMO,if we can contact MS,our best approach would be "Please work with our community to promo this great game".If they flat out say "no way",then ask them to release the rights unconditionally.

If they are willing to sell the rights, I'd like to know the cost.
Perhaps we can raise enough money for the outright purchase.

Papsmear wrote:QUOTE (Papsmear @ Mar 14 2015, 07:06 PM) If they are willing to sell the rights, I'd like to know the cost.
Perhaps we can raise enough money for the outright purchase.

It would most likely cost an exorbitant amount of money

Let's not make assumptions on cost. Do we have and comparable situations out there?

Raum has made the best suggestion so far.

I agree with Raum's idea. I'll hold onto that while I talk with the fellows from Desura.

Brings me to the question: who of the FA community can speak as "legal representative" of us? Who "owns" FA in the community? To prevent everyone and his gran might contact M$?