As with most PR speak, it (on paper) makes it sound better. "Sunsetting" a service brings to mind these things: beauty, a gentle and gradual fade out, and the i

As with most PR speak, it (on paper) makes it sound better. "Sunsetting" a service brings to mind these things: beauty, a gentle and gradual fade out, and the inevitability of natural phenomenon. Contrast with "shutting down" a service: a cold, calculated, and abrupt decision by a corporation. I don't think most people actually feel that companies owe it to anyone to keep services up long past their economic feasibility, but maybe somehow someone important felt some definition of bad about the language behind a shutdown announcement and came up with the term.