It's more complicated than that. Sometimes after 15 years, the founders want to move on and do something else. Or they want to build a dream house. Or their cofounder wants to get out. Or they hear the long-term vision of the acquiring company, and want to be a part of it.
Although it's an uphill battle, not every acquisition ends with the product being destroyed. Just look at what Apple did with NeXT and PA Semi…
You can have controlling stake in a company without working there day to day.
Apple literally destroyed those companies. After Apple acquired NeXT there was one less operating system on the market. PA Semi now doesn’t have a product that is sold to the open market.
Hate to break it to you, but NeXTSTEP failed in the marketplace. If Apple hadn't bought them, they'd still be gone.
But more importantly: who cares? There is no moral imperative to keep products alive. It's just stuff that people make. Products come and go, and founders owe you nothing.
Who cares right? Maybe Apple and Google and Microsoft should just merge. Then we can just use the same operating system for everything.
Can’t think of any downside!
I’m not mourning the loss of a product, I’m lamenting the negative externalities of acquisitions. Some of them are a net positive for sure but it seems like those are in the minority.
I don't understand your argument... there are quite a few operating systems receiving active development. For that matter, just with the Linux kernel there are dozens of operating system distributions, several based on BSD and more still when you consider ongoing support for Solaris forks and more bespoke OSes (redux, etc) and clones (ReactOS, Haiku, etc).
If YOU want another OS, there's nobody stopping you from developing, forking or otherwise funding the creation or developing one.
MacOS v10+ accounts for NeXTSTEP, but what do you consider to be the current MacOS (classic) to satisfy the not having one less operating system condition?
Oh noes... you mean there's no more Netware, Lantastic or (insert dozens of others), theres only (insert hundreds of linux derivatives), (insert a handful of BSD variants), (insert solaris variants), (insert clones), and a half dozen relatively popular new OSes all under current development, not counting the three popular mainstream commercial providers?
Tell us more about this "you mean there's no more Netware, Lantastic or (insert dozens of others), theres only (insert hundreds of linux derivatives), (insert a handful of BSD variants), (insert solaris variants), (insert clones), and a half dozen relatively popular new OSes all under current development, not counting the three popular mainstream commercial providers" MacOS classic successor.
Does the project have a website? What kind of systems does it run on? How do we acquire it?
'you mean there's no more Netware, Lantastic or (insert dozens of others), theres only (insert hundreds of linux derivatives), (insert a handful of BSD variants), (insert solaris variants), (insert clones), and a half dozen relatively popular new OSes all under current development, not counting the three popular mainstream commercial providers' is strangely absent from your list.
Although it's an uphill battle, not every acquisition ends with the product being destroyed. Just look at what Apple did with NeXT and PA Semi…