SumTotal's 'ToolBook' (Older RAD/Content Authoring Tool) Is Approaching Its End-of-Life

Long-time Slashdot reader thegreatbob writes:

The old RAD/content authoring system, ToolBook, appears to be entering the final phase of its EOL process. Sumtotal/Skillsoft (the current owner, under which meaningful development effectively ceased) 'may' refuse software activations after the end of 2021, and does not provide a format-compatible replacement. Similarly, they are halting their support services, and will not allow contracts to be renewed.

This may have significant ramifications for the education/training sector, and I have reason to believe that the body of the work dependent on this software is significantly larger than one might expect out of a wayward VisualBasic competitor from the 90s.

The software, which was offered for sale until relatively recently (I'm unsure of the date of cutoff), has not received an update since 2014, nor a major version update since 2011. As such, I'd like to increase the visibility of this particular EOL, in the hopes that interested parties will take notice and have an opportunity to begin the process of moving their courseware out of this format...

If one has never encountered this software before, it is 'interesting', to say the least, as is the history of Asymetrix (one of Paul Allen's ventures) and later Sumtotal Systems, through 90s and early 2000s. If one does not care to look into it, it can be thought of as some sort of bizarro-world amalgam of features from Visual Basic and HyperCard.

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