I just received a notice from Koingo Software (MacCleanse, MacPilot, AirRadar, etc.) was changing hands, transitioning to a "subscription based" marketing plan, and spinning off its lesser products to a "new developer", and perhaps equally interesting dropping all support for any version of OS X prior to 10.7 (Lion). Some around here have bewailed Apple's policy of planned hardware and software obsolescence but this could be a signal from the rest of the software world that infinite support of out of date product versions is an unsupportable financial model. As for the subscription sales model I am not so sanguine. Unlike Adobe, Koingo is still offering a "Lifetime Purchase" agreement, but only time will tell if that will remain viable. Companies must have cash-flow and given the computer market has gone flat if not decaying they are going to have to find a way to maintain the cash-flow. The times they are a changin'.

I received the same notice and read it with mixed emotions. Koingo will still continue to support and develop their "core products": MacCleanse, MacPilot and Data Guardian. This came on the heals of IGG Software's notice that it was cutting its product base in half, dropping iBiz and continuing development of only iBank.

There could be a real market out there for a "transition service"—something along the lines of "hey, you used xxx for years and they are now gone. You can move smoothly (or here's how to move) over to yyy." Think iWeb, Eudora, iBiz, …