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NAI to Sell Off PGP Product Line

Posted by michael on from the pretty-bad-profits dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Network Associates announced today that they are ceasing development of most of the PGP product line, including PGPMail and PGP Desktop Encryption software. This was apparently due to disappointing sales of the products. See the FAQ for more information on what's being killed and what's being kept." Another anonymous and unverified submitter says, "The entire PGP Business Unit was axed more or less wholesale. I guess selling encryption doesn't really make money. I worked there up until today and somewhere around 250 of the 300 employees were clipped."

5 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. let's just hope by GoatPigSheep · · Score: 0, Funny

    Osama doesn't buy it

    --
    GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
  2. *sigh* by beowulf_26 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now I'm going to have to bust out my old Hardy Boys Detective handbook to learn how to encrypt my messages. Everybody jump to OSDN as I'm officially starting the HaBOSEP (Hardy-Boys Open Source Encryption Project). Just send me 2$ for your secret decoder ring.

    Say it ain't so, PGP, say it ain't so.

    --

    --I hate big sigs.
    1. Re:*sigh* by ThatComputerGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hell, if ROT13 is good enough for ebooks, why isn't it good enough for you?

      Or you could just ROT26 your stuff. The ease-of-use factor sure beats anything else.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  3. What could 250 people be doing to PGP??? by Futurepower(tm) · · Score: 4, Funny


    I went to the NAI website and tried to buy PGP about 18 months ago. There were problems with the site. The product was poorly explained, and I got error messages.

    Also, would you buy encryption software from ANYONE who wasn't offering the source code? I had read that NAI would give the source code to someone who bought the product, but I was unable to find mention of that on their web site.

    I sent NAI an e-mail message, and no one replied.

    Finally, I just gave up and used the free version. I paid less (zero) and got more.

    The story says, "I worked there up until today and somewhere around 250 of the 300 employees were clipped."

    Do I understand this correctly? What could 250 people be doing with PGP, a product that was written by one man, and was changing very slowly?

    Maybe they were selling special versions in Arabic to Saudis living in Afghanistan? (When you have 4 wives, you have to keep a lot of secrets.)


    Secrecy and weapons sales corrupt democracy: What should be the Response to Violence?

    --
    Bush's education improvements were
  4. Re:Encryption is alive - but PKI is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    I actually had someone who I respected on a mailing list tell me to stop waisting space by including all that "garbage" in every one of my messages.

    Maybe he meant the part above the signature.