Are Obfuscation Companies Dying???

Wow, what a weird day. If you recall, back in August I asked people about their thoughts on obfuscators. I was starting to think about buying one for my automated build environment, and was exploring my options.

Today I have spent some time going through the process of looking more closely at the obfuscators. I have tried out a few of them, and decided it was time to talk with sales people about buying, and discounts for small ISV like myself.

My original decision was to approach Demeanor for .NET, Enterprise edition from Wise Owl Software. It seems to have everything I need, is closer to my price range (still a bit high at $799... what ever happened to tools only costing around $500 *sigh*) and works well with nant. I sent an email a few weeks ago asking about discounts, and never heard back. Today I called them at the number listed on the web site, which was (760) 471-9833. Disconnected or no longer in service. Odd. Maybe it was a typo. Called the fax line at (760) 471-0905. Disconnected or no longer in service. Ok, guess the phone lines are gone. Tried calling their "Marketing and Public Relations" guy at (415) 292-7825. Disconnected or no longer in service. Ok thats enough. No emails returned. No phones in service. No one to service me. No purchase.

Next I turned to Dotfuscator Professional from PreEmptive Solutions. I am not to keen on their product simply because of price, but I am hoping they may have some sort of discount program for small ISV. Can't hurt to ask. I called their 800 number, which is not available to Canada. Note to PreEmptive... it only costs like an extra dollar a month for 800 service across ALL of North America. You will easily recoup that cost with 1 sale. ie: Mine.

With their sales line not available I thought I would call their general line at 216.732.5895. Automated voicemail, with no option to get to sales. So I pressed 0 for the operator. Which leads me BACK to the main menu. After doing this twice, I realized I wasn't going to talk to anyone... and hung up.

The result? I didn't talk to one sales person today. The money stayed in my wallet, but I still don't have an obfuscator that works in an automated manner. Gotta make me wonder if the business of "obfuscation tools" is dead. Is there a free tool out there I don't know about? Did Microsoft include better obfuscation in the next version of Visual Studio? Whats going on... no one want my money?