Lessig waxes nostalgic about the value of old programs that, for reasons unrelated to their value to end-users, are obsolete and out of their reach. HyperCard has appeared on these pages before, and the maligned Newton MessagePad are ideas that are of no value to their copyright holders, but are locked away nonetheless.
But if the copyright were to have expired, and if the source code were available to all, then there is no doubt that some would find it useful to keep More alive. I’m sure there are many who share my affection for this clean bit of code, and I’m sure at least some could do good work bring it back to life. And not just More. Think of HyperCard, held hostage by Apple Corporation, despite a fanatically enthusiastic community of developers and fans who would keep it alive. Or Newton (yes, still protected) (no, stupid, not the man), which also has a following of fans.
If this code were free, then there are many who could, in the tradition of our framers, build upon it and use it, whether commercially or not. And thus at least some orphans would find a home, cared for and fed by those who love them most.
My guess is that if we still had More, HyperCard and the NewtonOS, in revitalized and up-to-date form, it would cannabilize some market segment, but I think that’s pretty narrow thinking. I expect the best aspects of all of these would be re-commercialized and would then be profitable for someone else, and not necessarily at the expense of the current hostage-takerscopyright-holders. If any company wanted to make a pure and simple outliner or card-based organization tool, they would have done it by now. So what are Symantc, Apple, et al afraid of?