Last of Winamp developers have left the building

November 11, 2004

This is shocking and sad. According to BetaNews, the last of the original developers of the awesome program Winamp have left AOL. From reading this article we are lead to believe that all further development and updates will cease.

The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned.

Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected.

Winamp's abandonment comes as no surprise to those close to the company who say the software has been on life support since the resignation of Nullsoft founder and Winamp creator Justin Frankel last January.

The marriage of Nullsoft and AOL was always one of discontent. After AOL acquired the small company in 1999 for around $100 million, the young team of Winamp developers was assimilated into a strict corporate culture that begged for rebellion. Although Nullsoft was initially given a long leash by AOL, It wasn't long until the two ideologies collided.

Well, that certainly sucks. Why in the world such a great program can't be supported is a mystery. Possibly, it can go open source, but who knows? Make sure to read the article in it's entirety here.

Source: BetaNews