This is a subject that has seen quite some heated debate!
You’re right in that SimpleScripts in its current form is now dead. The product has been purchased by MojoMarketplace, as stated above, and doesn’t accept new registrations.
It is, however, still working for those who already have keys. Therefore it should remain in place for the time being.
We, for example, still have a key for it; and choose to leave it enabled. It doesn’t appear to be getting updated/maintained anymore, so we do strongly discourage use of it - but it’s to remain available to clients until the transition towards something else is complete.
Like many features in InterWorx, if you don’t want it, you just disable it. No one is forcing you to leave it enabled, and it should not be removed just because a few people don’t use it. You can even remove the plugin if it bothers you that much!
Going forward, we’ve seen that there are two main options available. The first and most obvious is Softaculous. This works, is integrated - job done.
The second is Installatron. Installatron offer two models for our use-case; Server and Plugin.
Installatron plugin was at one point supported for InterWorx, but is no longer. There is still a page on their site with install instructions, but these won’t work - so be careful.
I’ve discussed with the folks at Installatron about any future plans they may have to bring back InterWorx support, and they were not interested. I also broached the idea of making the plugins available for the community to maintain, given that it’s essentially just a big centralized version of server with the plugin pointing to it. This idea didn’t fly either. Seems we have a case of “Can’t cook, won’t cook”.
The other option is Installatron Server. For the typical InterWorx use-case, I’ve been told the pricing will be the same as Installatron Plugin. The only downside is you need to maintain your own on-net server for the product.
Perhaps if more people contact Installatron to register interest in the Plugin product working with InterWorx, we may see another option become available here.
Jon