I would guess that there will be some sort of re-branding/re-launch of something since the message refers primarily to the winamp.com domain. Someone may have purchased the domain or AOL may do something new with it.
Will you also indemnify AOL against all third party claims should someone use the software, it messes up their Windows 9.3 filesystem, and they end up suing... however meritless the case may be? Will you accept responsibility for acting as the DMCA contact and updating the site within the time limits provided in the Safe Harbor provisions should a skin, plugin, or visualization infringe someone else's copyright? Will you also update the apps for free to keep current with mobile and desktop OS changes?
I'm guessing AOL has looked at all this and sees $$$ for both the business risk as well as maintaining software which they have deemed does nothing for their company goals. As a result, they are better off focusing their limited resources towards efforts which do further their goals.
This is why I really, really hate the modern, diversified corporation.
The decision of whether to continue a product line within a large corporation is very, very different from whether or not a product line could keep a small business afloat. If you're a small business, the only question is "are we making payroll?". Within a large, diversified corporation, you have to ask if a project is as valuable as your alternatives. Mom-and-pop's with a sustainable business can't and don't say, "Yeah, this is profitable, but it'd be more profitable if we dropped everything we're doing and put our resources towards a different sector entirely." But it's entirely feasible and rational for a large corporation to look at it's hundred sub-businesses, axe the ten least profitable, and put the people to work on the ten most profitable.
I'd be a lot happier if modern corporations were small, narrowly focused beasts, and not the monstrous conglomerations we have instead.
Guess I'm slow. I'm halfway through recursively fetching download.nullsoft.com/winamp/ with the intention of seeding a new torrent on TPB. Is that what you grabbed?
It's better to archive software (well, everything!), regardless of what it is. Helping people find and use archived historical software is a wonderful idea.
