Rebel Winamp-maker to quit AOL

BANGALORE: Justin Frankel, head of NullSoft, an AOL subsidiary, has announced that he would resign from AOL. This announcement comes close on the heels after AOL pulled of his program, called WASTE, after it was posted on the Nullsoft Web site. WASTE is a file-sharing program to set up secure networks of a maximum 50 people.

"For me, coding is a form of self-expression. The company controls the most effective means of self-expression I have," he writes in his Weblog. 'This is unacceptable to me as an individual, therefore I must leave. I don't know when it will be, but I'm not going to last much longer."

Justin Frankel’s startup company NullSoft was acquired by AOL in 199 for $86 million. Since then, the relationship between the NullSoft and AOL has been far from smooth. The 24 year old, University dropout, rebel programmer Frankel maintained the 'hacker style' work culture despite being acquired by AOL.