There's nothing wrong with dropping support, but trying to delete the source on the internet seems petty and completely unnecessary. Some of the projects I use a lot were basically abandoned but left open (hey, Google Code and Github are free); they were later picked up, improved and supported by others. (JS2 mode is the best example of this.)

Also, I really think you should be polite even if rudeness is justified. Of course, being polite does not mean yielding to requests. But that's a different matter entirely.

> trying to delete the source on the internet seems petty and completely unnecessary

One of the beauties of nearly all forms of free stuff is that the source is free. If users are actively maintaining it, they have their own repositories and forks. Even pure consumers will have their own copies of the source. I will not disparage the motives of people who give me free stuff and then decide for themselves how they wish to discontinue giving me free stuff, but I will say that removing the source ought to be an inconvenience at worst, and of no great consequence in most cases.

See also: “Ideas are forever”

http://raganwald.posterous.com/ideas-are-forever

p.s. I hope you realized that my tongue was firmly in cheek and were responding in kind, not suggesting that David Pollock is petty and rude :-)

I didn't mean to imply either of you were petty or rude. Rather, I think I'm just reacting to the prevalent idea around here that it's okay to be a bit of a jerk if somebody else is a jerk first. And while I guess it is okay, I think it is distinctly sub-optimal.