CandyBar Goes Free, Heads To The Iconfactory

Panic has announced popular Mac customization utility CandyBar has gone free and unsupported due to system changes in Mountain Lion (namely, code signing). The app will also head to The Iconfactory, where it “may turn into something new”.

Since we’re unsure about the long-term future of changing system icons, we’re not comfortable charging money for CandyBar, and we’re also not comfortable simply making it disappear, instead we’re going to make the current CandyBar free — but unsupported.

And here’s from The Iconfactory blog:

We and our good friends over at Panic have taken a hard look at the future of desktop icons on the Mac and unfortunately, the writing is on the wall. There may come a time, very soon in fact, when it won’t be possible to customize any system level icon on the desktop except perhaps folders. Apple’s push to sandbox applications, the addition of signed apps and the increasing unification of OS X and iOS mean CandyBar’s days (in its current form) are numbered.

First launched back in 2007, the ease of use of CandyBar spurred the proliferation of websites and communities aimed at showcasing icon and UI replacements for OS X, such as MacThemes and IconPaper. In an interview with MacThemes from 2008 (via Shawn Blanc), Panic’s Cabel Sasser said:

The innovation, the elegance, the lack of focus testing, the general feeling that people care about the end product, it makes us want to keep doing what we do. It’s a feedback loop of inspiration.

Goodbye, CandyBar. You’ve been a trusted companion and served us well in moments of deep crisis.