DECTRIS, a major manufacturer of X-ray and electron detectors, has assumed official stewardship of XDS. As most readers of this mailing list know, XDS is a software package used globally in macromolecular crystallography to process raw diffraction data. The software plays a critical role in helping structural biologists determine the 3D structures of complex biomolecules. By taking over its management, DECTRIS guarantees the long-term maintenance, stability, and compatibility of this scientific tool. A primary goal of the corporate stewardship is to ensure long-term availability, and scientific reproducibility of results. DECTRIS has committed to keeping XDS completely free of charge for academic and non-profit research use. DECTRIS is removing the 12-month expiration constraint that previously forced academics to update their software. There will be a single version of XDS for both academic and proprietary use, which will be publicly downloadable upon registration. Academic users will enjoy unlimited free use. Furthermore, academic labs and beamlines that process data on behalf of commercial customers holding a valid XDS license will not need to purchase a separate license themselves. The company's backing transitions a historically single-developer academic codebase into a secured, corporate-supported framework. However, Wolfgang Kabsch and I keep working on XDS. For more information, please read the official press release at https://dectris.com/en/company/news/newsroom/news/dectris-assumes-stewardshi... Kay Diederichs