R.I.P. Geocities

The Nomad's very first web page was on Geocities. "The Nomad's Wanderings" was a regurgitation of the various Star Wars Episode 1 rumors that were out and about before the premiere. I checked, and no - it no longer exists (although I am sure an enterprising person could find it on the Wayback Machine). I loved that little site, even though I was pretty much the only person who ever read it. So it was with sadness that I read today that Yahoo is going to permanently shut down Geocities. Then again, I have not had a reason to visit a Geocities page in years, so it was not a shock.

Rest in peace, Geocities. You'll be missed.

Flickr Co-Founders are leaving Yahoo

I have never been in favor of the Microsoft buyout of Yahoo, primarily for the likely impact on my favorite photo site: Flickr. However, it appears that the slow disintegration of Yahoo in the face of the stockholder rebellion has impacted me anyway. The two people who founded Flickr have left Yahoo and in fact have done so without any job to jump to. They apparently simply wanted to get out while the getting was good.

This is a VERY bad sign. Here is hoping the once-giant of Web 1.0 can staunch the bleeding before they completely disintegrate.

Microsoft to Yahoo: "No mas!"

In a surprising move, Microsoft has called off the dogs and will no longer pursue a Yahoo acquisition by any means. It appears that Microsoft was prepared to go hostile until Yahoo's board made it clear that they were willing to commit corporate suicide in order to prevent such a takeover by outsourcing its search-ads business to Google - essentially dumping the talent that Micosoft was hoping to acquire by the takeover.

There is a lot of speculation out there for what this means for the I/T world: Steve Balmer being fired as a failed CEO, Yahoo's stock suffering a fatal plunge in a "Black Monday" selloff, Google announcing formal acquisition of Yahoo, antitrust charges being filed against Google, etc. We'll have to wait and see what reality brings.

But as a Yahoo stockholder, I am glad to know I will not soon be a Microsoft shareholder.

REMEMBER: If Microsoft buys Yahoo, they own Flickr, too

I am a huge fan and power user of Flickr, a photo site which is focussed on encouraging users to share and view each others photos. It is great because it allows posting of any of your own photos on any of your own websites, and has a huge array of partners to make better use of the photos. They also expose an API to allow other websites to share their data and produce interesting applications and mashups. Last year, they were acquired by Yahoo, who pretty much decided to not change anything about Flickr, other than integrating the usernames with Yahoo identities.

Now, Microsoft has made an offer to acquire Yahoo and by doing so they would end up owning Flickr as well. And while Flickr is famous for sharing and openness, Microsoft is famous for HATING sharing and openness. As such, a rebellion is forming among Flickr power users and many are threatening to take their business elsewhere. If you are a FLickr user, I STRONGLY recommend you consider using their QOOP service now to get backup disks, to ensure you do not lose control of your own photos.

To be fair, Microsoft would be CRAZY to change much about Flickr. It would invalidate the reason for the acquisition. The problem is, you can NEVER be sure Microsoft won't be crazy. Backup disks provide insurance. OR you may want to consider one of their competitors which allow automatic import of Flickr libraries.

Free text messaging via Yahoo Mail!

Yahoo has apparently upgraded their webmail and part of the experience is free text messaging to phones in the USA and Canada!

The new Yahoo! Mail enables people to select how they want to communicate with their online contacts: via e-mail, instant message or text message to a mobile phone number. With the introduction of this text messaging feature, which is built on Yahoo!’s IM platform, people can now choose to send free text messages from Yahoo! Mail to mobile numbers in the US, Canada, India and the Philippines in real-time without leaving the Web mail experience. The feature is seamlessly incorporated into the new Yahoo! Mail, and is as easy as entering a mobile phone number, typing a text message and hitting send.

Very cool. And for iPhone users, an easy way around the 200-per-month limit on your AT&T text messages. Of course, it is only free on the SENDING side. Per-message charges may still exist on the RECIEVING side, so be sure to check before you send.