The web is mourning the expected loss of beloved icons of the Internet, AltaVista, Del.icio.us, Yahoo Buzz and many other Yahoo properties.
I reported on Flickr possibly going away or being significantly cut yesterday and then later updated the story to include a slide from a Yahoo deck showing several more properties either being closed or merged with others.
The web has taken a strong stance on not letting AltaVista or Delicious die. AltaVista was one of the first real search engines. Anyone over the age of 30 remembers using it back in the late 90s. To kill it off would inhuman. It should be donated to an organization or maybe even a company that can afford to keep it up. Delicious was one of the first bookmarking sites and still has a huge, local user base. They don't want to see it die.
There are many forums discussing this news, including WebmasterWorld, Sphinn and DigitalPoint Forums. Let me share with you a few quotes from these members of the forums.
Altavista should be a protected site with a big "Internet Historical Society" plaque nailed to the front of it.
I call that suicide in installments. Without all the services they shut down, I can use my Yahoo-ID for, hmmm, what? [long pause] Oh yeah, pipes and site explorer, as long as those don't cease to exist. Depressing.
So many years ago, at our office, Altavista WAS the port to the web...
I hope some of these properties remain to exist on some level and I hope Yahoo changes their minds.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Sphinn and DigitalPoint Forums.
Update: Yahoo says they are not going to kill Delicious, instead they want to sell it.
Many of you have read the news stories about Delicious that began appearing yesterday. We�re genuinely sorry to have these stories appear with so little context for our loyal users. While we can�t answer each of your questions individually, we wanted to address what we can at this stage and we promise to keep you posted as future plans get finalized.Is Delicious being shut down? And should I be worried about my data?
- No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive. What is Yahoo! going to do with Delicious?
- We�re actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service and our users. We�re in the process of exploring a variety of options and talking to companies right now. And we�ll share our plans with you as soon as we can.
What if I want to get my bookmarks out of Delicious right away?
- As noted above, there�s no reason to panic. We are maintaining Delicious and encourage you to keep using it. That said, we have export options if you so choose. Additionally, many services provide the ability to import Delicious links and tags.
We can only imagine how upsetting the news coverage over the past 24 hours has been to many of you. Speaking for our team, we were very disappointed by the way that this appeared in the press. We�ll let you know more as things develop.
