misato: Somebody has already equated Abandonware with Piracy. I don't see how they figure that, when it is the software publishers themselves that decide when to give their software away.

For instance, you can't say that giving away a certain program by Atari is piracy, if Atari themselves decide that the commercial life of that program has run it's course and they give it away to anyone and everyone from that point on.

I mean, if you gave away a car that you don't need anymore, would you then call the authorites and report that car stolen? Well same thing here. You can't say a program wi being pirated when those who made the program are giving it away.