They walk a very fine line in the current state as well. They need to prevent piracy and create funds to continue such niche software. But the moment they go under or are not utilized enough, these mechanisms then go unchecked as the developer disappears or moves on. I don't think wavelan and chatbuddy were designed and planned to be left abandoned and unusable without updates. It just happens with such a small community. I agree it sucks, but I know in the wavelan case in particular, it is more work to fix it than the developer has time for.

TBird