Network Associates Gives Up Search for PGP Buyer

nakhla writes: "I came across this article which states that Network Associates has given up the search for a buyer for its PGP division. The company has laid off 18 workers, and plans to continue to maintain the product for one year. It's a good thing that there are still products like GnuPG and others out there for people who need cheap, reliable encryption."

Comments

Sad..

[dj28]

I actually bought a version of PGP Personal Security 7.0.3 from these guys. It comes with some nice extras such as a very nice firewall. It's a shame that not enough people contributed to the development. Hopefully they will open source the latest version so that development can continue for long after one year.

Encryption Crackdown?

[flipflapflopflup]

Maybe a smells a bit of conspiracy-theory, but this article at The Register opens the floor to the idea that NIA's decision isn't entirely due to commercial factors, and in fact looks a bit "fishy".

Quite an interesting point - why would they give up on such a good product like this? And who could gain from them giving up a product like this?

Encryption and open source

[pinkUZI]

Encryption is one of those things that goes really well with open source. PGP started out as Philip Zimmermann's free and open project which he released with a written warning against software that locked away its source code and algorithms. This makes it a little difficult to go back to closed source and proprietary encryption methods. The internet community's love affair with PGP was broken when Phil quit working with Network Associates. The trust wasn't with PGP alone, it was with Phil heading up PGP's development that drew the trust of us all.
So, its not too surprising that Network Associates is having a little trouble trying to pawn off a product that has no market.

Exit PGP, enter GnuPG.