The article describing the archive suggests it be used for research in computer science, as well existing to preserve software culture. Commercial uses envisioned:<p>> Software Heritage makes two key contributions to the IT industry that can be leveraged in software processes. First, Software Heritage intrinsic identifiers can precisely pinpoint specific software versions, independently of the original vendor or intermediate distributor. This de facto provides the equivalent of “part numbers” for FOSS components that can be referenced in quality processes and verified for correctness independently from Software Heritage (they are intrinsic, remember?).<p>> Second, Software Heritage will provide an open provenance knowledge base, keeping track of which software component—at various granularities: from project releases down to individual source files—has been found where on the Internet and when. Such a base can be referenced and augmented with other software-related facts, such as license information, and used by software build tools and processes to cope with current development challenges<p>[0] <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590958/file/ipres-2017-software-heritage.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590958/file/ipres-201...</a>