Yesterday I got a mail from Caligari saying that i will see “reduction or elimination of services offered for trueSpace“. Microsoft bought Caligari last year and made the 3D software trueSpace 7.6 freeware and downloadable for all. trueSpace started its life on the Amiga as Caligari 1 and has a lifeline which is over 20 years, and looks like it’s draw to an end.

Here is the complete Letter from the founder:

Dear Caligari customer,

You may have heard that Microsoft Corporation, reacting to difficult business conditions, has been evaluating many of the products it produces and making the difficult decision to reduce investment in certain areas.

It is with regret that I have to tell you that trueSpace is one of the products affected. As a consequence, you will see reduction or elimination of services offered for trueSpace. For example, there will be no phone or email support offered for trueSpace by Microsoft, and our web site may also be affected. While the dates are not absolutely fixed, some services and contacts may come to an end as early as Friday May 22nd 2009, while others will continue as long as possible with no firm cutoff date available yet.

While we are working to minimize negative impact for the community, here are some things you may want to plan for in near future:

1.  For those who have purchased and paid for Caligari products, download a copy of all purchased software from the repeat downloads area.
   Please log in with your username and password at:
   http://cart1.caligari.com/ebuy2/enterdownloads.asp
   If you have forgotten either your user name or password, please visit:
   http://cart1.caligari.com/forms/memberform.aspEnsure you keep the copies and information in a safe place, as they may not be available for download again. Be sure you also have a copy of all required serial numbers, as there will be no support staff to assist you after a certain date.
2. For those who have downloaded trueSpace7.6 since it became free, if you do not already have a copy of the installer kept on your hard drive or on CD / DVD, you may wish to download the trueSpace7.6 installer and keep a copy in a safe place.
   Please log in with your username and password at:
   http://cart1.caligari.com/web/Truespacemainreg.aspx
   If you have forgotten either your user name or password, please visit:
   http://cart1.caligari.com/forms/tsmemberform.asp
3. Download a copy of any training that you wish to keep from our main website.
4. Download any useful plug-ins you wish to keep from the forums.
5. Download any useful information, training, tips etc from the forums that you wish to keep.
6. Contact any Caligari staff or forum users who you wish to keep in touch with, and arrange to have an alternative email address to contact them.

As a community you may decide to set up a new forum or meeting place. Please use the existing forums to announce the location of that new meeting space, and we will also strive to put that information onto our main website. I personally plan to visit any such meeting place to keep in touch with you and hear about your new plans.

All of us here in the Caligari team would like to thank everyone in our community for your long-standing support of trueSpace and Caligari. Our community – that is, all of you – were truly one of our best assets, and you have created incredible work, and we hope you will continue on to do even more amazing things.

I personally want to thank all of the Caligari staff for their amazing contribution to development of trueSpace and building of this community. During 25 years of trueSpace history the product made a difference in lives of many people and the world is a better place for it.

Roman Ormandy,
Caligari Founder