The Skiff Privacy Fiasco, or How not to Shutdown Your Startup

Skiff Privacy shut down in 2024 and was acqui-hired by Notion, and the author, from the company behind Notesnook, argues that the shutdown was handled poorly. The post says Skiff's February 9, 2024 website announcement emphasized joining Notion and excitement without clearly stating that the product was being discontinued, with that information appearing only in a hidden FAQ item. It also criticizes Skiff's repeated "open source" claims, since only parts of the product were source available and the backend was not, and it recommends that shutting-down services publish their code and give users a year or two to migrate.