Ask.com closes search service

Many of us remember the service Ask.com, which was quite popular among domestic users - after all, this service existed even before the advent of Google and Yandex, it is generally the first of its kind service, which had no analogues. Unfortunately, the developers of the service did not cope with the emerging competitors, and so they could not adapt to the rapidly changing world of search engines. As a result, the company management announced the closure of the Ask.com search division, which is unable to cope with its direct responsibilities. It should be noted that Ask.com appeared in 1995, being called AskJeeves.com.

The service developers are two Berkeley programmers whose names are also familiar to many: Garrett Grüner and David Worten. Currently, all assets of the company created by them belong to InterActiveCorp. It is a pity, of course, that the pioneers in this area could not cope with new tasks that arise almost every day. However, it is worth paying tribute to the people who were able to start a new chapter in the history of the Web, a chapter called "Search the Internet."
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The closure of the search service, according to the company's management, does not mean that the company itself ceases to exist - in fact, the service will continue to work, but only in the form of question-answer functionality. In principle, there are also quite a few such services, probably in every developed country there is an analogue - but Ask.com still remains relatively popular, so such a service is in demand. Well, since there is a demand, there is also an offer, right?

The closure of the company's search division led to the dismissal of 130 people who would not be employed in other branches of the company. In addition, the company’s offices in China, Hangzhou, and in the United States, in Edison, will be closed. It is worth noting that until the closure of Ask.com owned 3.7% of the search market in the United States. In principle, very good, considering how many users are online.

Via yahoo