So, almost quietly, Yahoo! Geocities came to an end yesterday. A lot of people seem be unaware of this event although it did not go unnoticed completely. Popular web comic XKCD remade their website for the day in the familiar old Geocities style to commemorate the day.
Why am I even mentioning this then? Because it's been a bit part of the internet for so many years. Everybody has been on a Geocities website at least once in their life and good percentage of us even had a website there (I'm innocent I swear!). I know of a number of people who's first website was at Geocities, and a lot of nostalgia is attached to it (yes, even with those twinkling stars in the background and the annoying ads down the side). It was a part of our history, and now it's gone.
So why is Yahoo! closing down something that's been around for so long? Simple - technology is moving on and Geocities wasn't. It's become very easy for users to create their own space on the internet with a number of free blogs and website builders available, as well as free CMS that can simply plug and play. That, together with Yahoo! not making any profit out of it... Yahoo! is now moving on to their Yahoo! Web Hosting, which is not a free service I might add.
Why am I even mentioning this then? Because it's been a bit part of the internet for so many years. Everybody has been on a Geocities website at least once in their life and good percentage of us even had a website there (I'm innocent I swear!). I know of a number of people who's first website was at Geocities, and a lot of nostalgia is attached to it (yes, even with those twinkling stars in the background and the annoying ads down the side). It was a part of our history, and now it's gone.
So why is Yahoo! closing down something that's been around for so long? Simple - technology is moving on and Geocities wasn't. It's become very easy for users to create their own space on the internet with a number of free blogs and website builders available, as well as free CMS that can simply plug and play. That, together with Yahoo! not making any profit out of it... Yahoo! is now moving on to their Yahoo! Web Hosting, which is not a free service I might add.