Winamp author to leave AOL's Nullsoft subsidiary

It seems that AOL's heavy handed tactics have prompted this decision. Only time will tell if the fallout from this blow will be devastating or not for the AOL subsidiary. Frankel will no doubt resurface in the near future to continue his visionary work in a less restrictive environment.

The message, dated yesterday June 2, reads: "For me, coding is a form of self-expression. It's probably the form I'm most effective at. Everything I code is arguably owned by the company. The company controls what I do with my code [in the past, it seemed I had freedom, but it turns out all of that was not really the case--rather, I was somehow avoiding the control illicitly (for 4 years)]".

The note ends with the statement: "The company controls the most effective means of self-expression I have. This is unacceptable to me as an individual, therefore I must leave. I don't know when it will be, but I'm not going to last much longer." µ