[WhoBeI]

Well, nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. Being honest about these things usually means it will be seen as bad news. So you try to shift the focus to make it seem like the opponents (customer in this case) need was the trigger instead. Keeping some of the applications was a nice touch in addition to, apparently, announcing some kind of partner program.

They should read through the http status code list again though. 404 means that the server is currently unable to find the resource requested. 410 means that the resource is gone and never expected to return. Sure, I'm being picky but if they are refocusing their development efforts it doesn't seem to much to ask that they read up on http status codes and use them correctly.

[badloginagain]

I think the point is that the resource requested won't exist anymore.

[WhoBeI]

Yeah, I know. That's what 410 means. 404 means that the server couldn't find what you are looking for but says nothing about why.

http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html

Not a big deal. I just found it funny that the first change they make is technically wrong.