There was an article at newsforge.com on the demise and resultant consequences
of Appgen Software Inc., the developer of MyBooks accounting software, which
ran on windows, mac osx and linux. I had commented on this list earlier in
the year on the software and the company. Their first tier tech support was
rather rude and abrasive, something us southerners take a dim view of, but
the actual software had adequate features, sufficient eye candy, and was easy
to use. Only problems arose if you wanted to do something outside the
documentation.
According to the newsforge article, some value added resellers, VARs, bought
developers licenses but were never sent the source code, which is
proprietary. I recall Appgen offering me a developers license and told me
straight out that they would give me the sourcecode after I purchased the
license. Now the company, based in New York state, has gone out of business.
There is no bankruptcy legacy. The question is: what will become of the
source code? There are a number of developers licenses out there, but
nothing to develope from. Smacks of fraud.
It was the nasty, unhelpful attitude of their first tier tech support which
got me interested in gnucash, which is a gpl'd application that runs on linux
and mac osx via fink. Gnucash is developed well enough to handle personal
and small business accounting. Perhaps, the owners of Appgen Software, Inc.
saw the handwriting on the wall. But, based on their widespread breaches of
contract with their developers, I cannot help but wonder if the owners were
the ones who fatally poisoned their own company.
Smitty
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