Yahoo shuts down Internet relic AltaVista

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BARBARA ORTUTAY

NEW YORK (AP) - Once up on a time, there was a popular search engine called AltaVista. It lives no more.

On Monday, its owner Yahoo Inc. sent AltaVista.com to the Internet graveyard to rest alongside order-almost-anything venture Kozmo.com and the butler from Ask Jeeves.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltaVista was introduced in 1995, three years before Google Inc. was founded. Eclipsed by Google in the early 2000s, AltaVista's star had already faded by the time Yahoo acquired it as part of its $1.7 billion purchase of Overture Services Inc. in July 2003. Overture had bought AltaVista earlier that year from Massachusetts-based CMGI Inc.

Yahoo announced AltaVista's fate on its Tumblr page late last month. Search industry expert Danny Sullivan likened AltaVista to a bright child neglected by its parents.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130708/DA7DGTGG1.html

[Pterodactyl]

1. Aw, maaaaaaaaaaaaan.

[Gregorian]

2. Now I feel like checking to see if Metacrawler is still there. I used to use those before Google.

It's kind of cool to be there at the birth of something big.

My first email was in 1990.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. We have people here that were BORN in 1990.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. What's next?

[niyad]

5. mamma and dogpile have always been my favourites

[skydive forever]

6. That used to be my main search engine.

Sad, but things change I guess.

[SteveG]

10. Mine as well

AltaVista was the first good search engine. Much of what Google and Bing are today was pioneered by Altavista

[PasadenaTrudy]

7. I forgot about Altavista!

I still have an Earthlink email tho,

[BootinUp]

8. At one time AltaVista was the most powerful

search engine. imho.

[Sgent]

9. altavista.digital.com

rest in peace.

You were the first full site search engine on the internet (Yahoo was first, but was just a directory not a search engine), and you will be missed.

There are some features that altavista had which Google either never had or has since gotten rid of. Things like full boolean searches and the like.

RIP

[alp227]

11. LOL I haven't been to that site since...2002? 2003?

Never knew it still existed.

[onehandle]

12. One less place to go to avoid the massive intrusiveness of Google. nt

[RobinA]

13. RIP

A great search engine. Way cleaner than Google, although I guess it's unfair to compare early internet to the vast commercial enterprise that is the Internet now.

[rwsanders]

14. What about babblefish? Or is there something else I haven't seen to translate?

Or did they wrap that into Yahoo?

[Neoma]

16. Babble fish was really handy...

Even if the translation was a bit off.

[thenooch]

15. I too remember Altavista

Now get back to me when Yahoo decides to shut down Yahoo. You can't stay in business just by copying 'everything' google does...yahoo mail really sucks.

[closeupready]

17. That's sad - once, that was my preferred search engine.

We're talking WAY back in the 90's, lol.

[East Coast Pirate]

18. Do they still have websites that submit your website to multiple search engines?

I haven't had a website in years.