A software escrow service is a source code software deposit which includes a third party escrow agent.
Basically escrow is requested by the licensee who in this case will be the licensing software who will be in charge of the maintenance of the software.
In case of bankruptcy or any other reason that the licensor will fail to maintain or updating the software as agreed upon in the agreement, the source code of the software will be released to the licensee.
The parties who are licensed to have this kind of a license should understand that escrow also have necessities that are needed to be met. Software escrow service offer custom software to different companies which are very critical and also maybe very vital to the company itself.
Operations shall continue and the maintenance of the company software regardless of the licensor is not in a position to do so may be because of being Bankrupt.
The easiest way to achieve this is by getting the up to date copy of the source code. However, the licensor are often very reluctant to agree to this mainly because the source code represents a trade secret and generally as you may expect they are very closely guarded.
Software escrow services came up with a solution which will do away with the just stated conflict of interest, where by the source code escrow will ascertain that the person who is being licensed will only get his access to the source code when it has been established that the maintenance of the software can not be assured as it was stated in the contract agreement which had been agreed upon with the two parties.
Some of the crucial benefit that comes along with the software escrow services is free software.
To get to understand this point right, before the signing of the contract, first and fore most you have to read it for you to understand the terms and conditions which will be tabled to you in black and white.
You will find that it is well described on the Escrow agreement which is applicable to the clients who were developed for custom software which generally will not be made available to the general public.
The reason being is that the software was specifically designed for you to fit to your liking and your office operations. Free softwares are also referred to as open source or ransom ware.