Software buyers to get protection guidelines

Software purchasers, who risk losing their investment due to problems with their supplier, are to get greater protection across Europe, thanks to an initiative from the UK National Computing Centre (NCC).

The NCC has drawn up guidelines that could be incorporated into a legal contract during the purchase of any valuable software. The escrow contract would require developers to release the source code of their software to the purchaser if the software did not work, or if the developer went bankrupt.

The guidelines, which are part-funded by the EC, will be launched at a conference in Manchester on 14 October. NCC quality manager, Daniel Dresner, said: "Anyone in Europe who is interested can attend for free. We will set up online workshops to discuss the issues, and we hope to reach a consensus by the end of the year." The conclusion will be submitted as a European standard to the International Standards Organisation.

NCC currently stores the source code of around 10,000 items of software under escrow contracts - twice the number of all three US escrow leaders combined. "Apart from us, a few banks offer escrow services in the UK," said Dresner, "but they are reluctant to hand over the code, if a developer goes bankrupt."

The NCC Escrow Guide recommends four scenarios for when source code should be released: if the software does not support year 2000 dates; if it cannot handle the euro currency; if the developer becomes insolvent, or if the developer cannot maintain development of the code - for example, after a takeover. Precise legal contracts would depend on the demands of the purchaser.

Early registrants to the conference include the procurement manager from Siemens and other buyers, lawyers and software developers.