AltaVista Officially Gone

Yahoo officially declared the death of AltaVista, cutting it from their product line on July 7, 2013. This is no surprise of course, since we predicted this shutdown to happen back in 2012. Still it's tragically nostalgic to witness the burial of an old friend that we've known since the beginning of the commercial internet and began reporting on back in 1997—almost 17 years ago.

AltaVista was, at one time, The King Of Search. Before Google came along they were one of the first 'most popular' search engines. Founded in 1995, AltaVista experienced several different owners before being obtained by Yahoo in 2003. The demise of this once leading and very popular search engine should serve as a cautionary reminder that we either keep moving and innovating with the times or else slip quietly away unnoticed. Farewell, old friend.