Proprietary software

Proprietary software, also known as non-free software, or closed-source software, is computer software for which the software's publisher or another person retains intellectual property rights—usually copyright of the, but sometimes rights.

Origin
Until the late 1960s computers—large and expensive s, machines in specially air-conditioned computer rooms—were usually d to customers rather than sold. Service and all software available were usually supplied by manufacturers without separate charge at the time. Computer vendors usually provided the source code for installed software to customers. Customers who developed software often made it available to others without charge. Closed source means computer programs whose source code is not published except to licensees. It is available to be edited only by the organization that developed it and those licensed to use the software.

In 1969, IBM, which had lawsuits pending against it, led an industry change by  and services,  by unbundling hardware and software.

Bill Gates' "" in 1976 decried computer hobbyists' rampant of software, particularly Microsoft's  interpreter, and reminded his audience that their theft from programmers hindered his ability to produce quality software. According to the legal characteristic of software changed also due to the U.S..

Starting in February 1983, IBM adopted an "-only" model for a growing list of their software and stopped shipping much of the source code, even to licensees. In August 1983, binary software became copyrightable in the United States as well by the law decision, before which only source code was copyrightable. Additionally, the growing availability of millions of computers based on the same microprocessor architecture created for the first time an unfragmented and big enough market for binary distributed software.