Dearly Departed: Companies and Products That Didn't Deserve to Die

Some products just didn't deserve to die. But they did, because the companies made bad business decisions. We revisit several of our favorites--from minicomputers to software utilities--and mourn the best and brightest that died an untimely death.

Getting serious wasn't funny ...

Company: Infocom
Born: 1979
Died: 1986 (acquired by Activision)
Cause of Death: Trying to get serious; they poured too many resources into developing a database product that failed
Founders: Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Albert Vezza and Joel Berez
Most well-known product(s): Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Leather Goddesses of Phobos
Why we miss them: Challenging and whimsical games; the New Zork Times (later renamed The Status Line after The New York Times got cranky). You can find links to issues here: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/NZT/index.html
Lasting image/quote: "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." -Zork

Next: Their lights went out>>

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