While ushering in the latest version of its iWork productivity suite, Apple Inc. has quietly pulled the plug on its archaic AppleWorks bundle by permanently discontinuing the product.According to Macworld UK, the company began informing its reseller channel of the demise last week, announcing that AppleWorks had reached definitive "End of Life" status.
Products dubbed End of Life (or EOL) by Apple are no longer sold or updated. A quick check of the AppleWorks website confirms the move, as it now directs viewers to Apple's iWork website.
Macworld UK notes that the original AppleWorks was written by Robert Lissner and released in 1984 by Apple for the Apple II family of computers, and at one point was the biggest-selling software package in the industry.
AppleWorks was reincarnated in the 90's as ClarisWorks, with Bob Hearn and Scott Holdaway teaming for the majority of the initial development work.
At one time, AppleWorks was bundled with all consumer level Macs sold by Apple. However, it entered a state of limbo in the late 90's at version 6.0 and would never recover.