Just a quick reminder that iGoogle is closing down in three days. In one of the company’s “spring cleaning” announcements over the Summer it was announced that the personalized homepage product was drawing to a close.
iGoogle allowed users to create personalized homepages that featured news they cared about, weather updates, and various other pieces of information provided by Google and third-party vendors.
Some Google products draw a lot of outcry when they are released, for example, the Google Reader product which spurred various new RSS applications. Yahoo, apparently realizing that some users would not be happy with the iGoogle closure, introduced an import tool for its own homepage redesign. The import tool was announced as part of the My Yahoo product update.
For iGoogle users who don’t want to join the ranks of Yahoo users there are a number of alternatives which also offer personalized homepages. A few that come to mind include:
Of course given the fact that iGoogle didn’t draw the type of widespread criticism experienced by the closure of Google Reader we have a feeling that not many die-hard Google fans were really taking advantage of the personalized homepage feature.
So how does Google plan on keeping iGoogle users happy? The company suggests using the Google Chrome Web Store to personalize your browser.
If you can’t decide on which new platform to use, fret not, iGoogle offers an XML file export feature by going to the gear icon. After clicking on the gear icon go to iGoogle settings and choose the feature titled “Export iGoogle settings to your computer.”
If the component of iGoogle you are using does not export Google suggests contacting the iGoogle gadgets third-party developer who created the gadgets since the company does not maintain all aspects of the platform.
Are you upset that iGoogle is closing down?
