Wise is Dead

It's official. Wise Package Studio, like the Wise brand itself, is dead. It just doesn't know it yet. Like a family circled around their 116 year old grandfather laying on a bed in a coma on life support. They refuse to accept the inevitable.



Was there an official announcement? No. I'm basing this diatribe on de facto environmental signs.



What signs?



- WPS 8.0 doesn't install and work properly on Windows 7. At least not consistently. Even though the brochure material hints that it is.



- The Symantec folks at Tech-Ed 2011 reacted to my Wise questions as if they were surprised that the brand name was still in existence.



- The comments in the Symantec Endpoint Wise Package Studio forums are pretty blunt that Symantec is not putting any effort or funding into future development.



That means Flexera will soon be the market monopolist. Even with dozens of smaller vendors in the ring, most customers are moving to, or will soon move to AdminStudio.



What a shame. I've been involved with software development projects staffed with brilliant and creative people, but were suffocated to death by accountants and clueless MBA golfers. I think of that when I realize how much work has been put into WPS over the years. With Symantec producing pure shit products on a higher marketing level, this is one that could retain their integrity and value as a real competitor in a market of only two real players. Both of which being way over-priced.



Oh well. Sorry to see you go, Wise. You were pretty good while you were alive. RIP.