In the beginning of the (Internet) principles there was AltaVista . It is not necessary to have knowledge of archeology to know what we are talking about, although the truth is that only those who accessed the Internet for the first time back in the 90s will remember this search engine . Yes, AltaVista was an Internet search engine that was launched in 1995 and is closing its doors today. The search dinosaur says goodbye 18 years after being born. It will do so on July 8 after having served billions of people at the time and having failed soon after. Not surprisingly, Yahoo!- the company in whose arms it rested since 2003 - abandoned him to his fate to give the race to Google , the current giant of Internet searches. Neither its IPO, nor the buybacks, nor the 20 million indexed pages managed to catapult this search engine to the top. The Mountain View one had already gone ahead to start hosting tens of billions of pages.
Neither of his parents knew very well what to do with Altavista . Its owner, Digital Equipment , managed to get Compaq to acquire it in January 1998 . At that time, Altavista Digital became Altavista and it was a bit easier to access. In the following year it was sold again to CMGI and went public, but the dotcom crash came in 2001 . Layoffs, closings and… a 2003 purchase! Yahoo! She took risks - she is an expert in this kind of adventure - and acquired Overture , a company that Altavista had bought that same yearin a new attempt for rescue.
It is true that at that time, Yahoo! took advantage of Altavista technologies , which would have already finished its journey as a brand. The Californian company legitimately copied (because it had paid for it) its operation. Altavista must have something to do with it, because Google did the same . However, scarce resources and lack of interest contributed to Altavista not being properly watered and remaining anchored in the past, like an old glory in the wax museum. Years later, already during the first decade of the 2000s , most users said that they had used Altavista, but now they were using Google. The roles had been reversed, so the Mountain View began its ascent to success. She didn't stop for a single moment to breathe, so her climb to the throne culminated in a solid and lasting first position. It was about feeding and working conscientiously . Yahoo! decided not to, so at this time there is no other possible solution. Lowering the shade will make the most sense. Also the most profitable.
Yahoo! It has not wanted to accompany Altavista in its decline, although the truth is that the firm is not in one of its best moments either. Google has surpassed it in all its facets, so it is not surprising to us that in the face of this kind of failure, it has to opt for closure. For now, you can continue visiting - even if it's to say goodbye - the Altavista page . It is a plain search engine, with no more frills than a box to enter the object of our curiosity and see what kind of results it can offer. The service is not bad, but their expertise leaves a lot to be desired. Now he is a zombie whose agony has come to an end . Rest in peace.