If they're not dead, they're certainly in a self-induced coma. Nikon continued selling Coolscan scanners long after they quit supporting new operating system releases with the required Nikon Scan software. Tsk, tsk.
Eventually, Nikon updated their information to something akin to "just buy VueScan," essentially telling the purchaser of a new product from them to go away and stop bothering them. Both VueScan and Silverfast continue to be updated, and support the no-longer made Nikon scanners.
Unfortunately, the Nikon scanners used Firewire (typically Firewire 400). That means you'll also have to figure out how to physically connect your Coolscan with your current system. For my current Mac, for example, that requires three different adapters: (FW400 to FW800, FW800 to Thunderbolt 2, Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3). While that seems like it would be trouble, it really isn't. If you need more information about how to do this, see this excellent article.
