The Symbian Foundation has decided to shut down its websites containing open sourced code, software fixes and documentation from 17 December.

The platform will still remain open source, although the move is considered by many to be the beginning of the end for the Symbian OS.

In a blog post, the Foundation said that developers keen on procuring documentation, code and updates related to the platform will be available on request, and sent out via DVD or USB sticks. The Symbian Facebook fan page and Twitter feed are also likely to be shut down.

Symbian sites set to be affected by the move includes horizon.symbian.org, ideas.symbian.org, blog.symbian.org, blogcn.symbian.org, and blogjp.symbian.org.

“We are working hard to make sure that most of the content accessible through web services (such as the source code, kits, wiki, bug database, reference documentation and Symbian Ideas) is available in some form, most likely on a DVD or USB hard drive upon request to the Symbian Foundation,” the Foundation said.