why not sell the business? too much hassle to operate? someone surely would want it...

"We expect to make Scientific Word an open source product eventually. Since both Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Notebook contain the proprietary computer algebra system MuPAD, they cannot be made open source. When the open source project for Scientific Word is established, an announcement will be made here."

It looks like they just hope for it to be continued as open source - except for the part The Mathworks Inc. owns anyway

One person businesses often require a unique collection of skills to operate and don’t make enough money to hire a team of professional operators. This is also true of traditional small businesses like restaurants and car mechanics. The phenomenon is discussed extensively in the “E-myth” series of books. The TLDR is if you ever want to get someone else to run your business, you have to be careful to systematize and document how it works.

I relate to this. 1 person company means getting the job done. As soon as you have 2 people you really need 3. One to do the labor, the other to schedule and bill(receptionist). If it's a physical company you need more space. Some software charges by person too.

If something gets cancelled, the 1 person company takes a few hours off. Your 3 person company still needs to get their weekly paychecks.

Whenever I hear calls for raises to minimum wage to absurd(?) levels (20$/hr), I think that this company will never be able to grow past 1 person. You can pay for a receptionist if you are a big corp with many employees, but it's really hard when you are going from 1 person to 3. We'd even let the receptionist do full WFH and just answer phones so they can watch their kids.

"I guess we don't deserve to be in business".

And the big corporation who gives 60% of our service conquers the industry.

There are companies that provide receptionists as a service.

People in Germany and Norway somehow start companies. Maybe they make do without receptionists?

People buy restaurants and car shops mainly because of licensing such as alcohol and zoning laws. It's rare for a specialty shop to be sold unless the owner has an apprentice.

It’s more common if the specialty shop has expanded to a chain. Because the same skills and tactics it takes to make a chain business also make a salable / maintainable business.

Pretty sure restaurants and car mechanics aren't unique skills and when they retire in my area someone usually buys them out and continues operating under the same name...

From what I recall from reading one of the "E-myth" books a while ago, whether the newly-owned shop will operate similarly to the old one, and also how difficult was it for the original owners to sell it, will depend on the documentation GP mentioned.

Going from my memory, "E-myth" book(s) insist on thoroughly documenting operating procedures and turning them into playbook. Rigid in terms of personnel training, but open to change if someone figures out an improvement. The goal is to be able to scale up operations into multiple venues (franchise models) while maintaining highly consistent appearance and level of quality.

As much as having such documentation will make it easier for a franchisee to get the business running (the books call it "turn-key business", IIRC), it will also make it easier for a potential buyer to take over and immediately hit the ground running.

The properties already converted for specific use, so it is cheaper to reuse as much as possible.

But those will be different businesses. The restaurant will not make the same dishes or retain the same customers. The mechanic will operate on different types of vehicles.