Pegasus Mail rides into the sunset

Program developers run out of cash.

The team behind the free Pegasus Mail client has closed down the software after failing to find sufficient funding.

The mail program, which had reached version 4.41, had been popular with users because it was not affected by mainstream viruses such as Melissa and Lovebug.

However, developer David Harris announced that all future development would cease on the project because it was not financially viable.

"I stress that this is purely a decision brought on by financial difficulty, " said a statement on the Pegasus Mail website.

"If sponsors could be found to provide modest ongoing funding, I would be happy to continue developing the programs and would even consider opening the source."

Downloads of the software are currently still available from the links on the official site.

Harris also promised to support sites which had current support subscriptions until their agreements expire.

He also said that the team is looking at creating migration tools to assist those sites in moving to other platforms or products.

"It has been a privilege to be of service to the internet community for such a long period of time. I am only sorry that I am not able to continue doing so, " said Harris.

Pegasus Mail was originally released in 1990 for MS-DOS and the original version worked with Novell NetWare. The software was later rewritten to work with Windows and Apple Macs.