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While AOL/TW is setting up Netscape to be Pathfinder 2.0, Disney is thinking of something else.
January 28, 2001 7:35 PM   Subscribe

While AOL/TW is setting up Netscape to be Pathfinder 2.0, Disney is thinking of something else. Looks like Go.com will soon be gone.com
posted by TNLNYC (9 comments total)

Dang, I hope Dan is ok if Go.com goes away forever (he works there).
posted by mathowie at 7:49 PM on January 28, 2001


The only thing surprising about this is that it's taken so long. Go.com (aka Disney Internet Group) has to be one of the most mismanaged Internet companies out there, and has been for years. Bicoastal management with competing plans, The Fist of Mickey itself never sure what it wanted (except that it sure didn't want to spend any money on promotion, particularly for ABCNEWS.com or Mr. Showbiz), badly handled absorptions of other companies (remember Starwave?), on and on. Very haphazard. The only reason it's survived intact for this long is because of Disney's obsession with looking like a Big Net Player. Now that closing your Internet play is the cool thing to do, Disney's gonna do it.

Which pretty much summarizes their problem. They're the Microsoft of web sites: Watch what everyone else is doing and copy it halfheartedly six months later.

Which I have never understood, since Disney.com itself is amazing.
posted by aaron at 9:27 PM on January 28, 2001



mathowie: Many thanks for thinking of me, it's greatly appreciated.

It's worth making an important clarification: The company is no longer called "Go.com," and the article is merely referring to one of their products, the portal. If the site Go.com goes away, it won't affect my job directly because I work in a different department. The Walt Disney Internet Group consists of many successful sites, some of which are already making a profit.

It's still very sad for the incredible talent that works on the portal. My heart and hopes are with them.

posted by dan_of_brainlog at 9:47 PM on January 28, 2001


Oh, and Mr. Showbiz was a Starwave property long before the acquisition, if that means anything. :)
posted by dan_of_brainlog at 9:49 PM on January 28, 2001


Does anyone have an idea how this would affect the future of Infoseek? The Infoseek name has been almost completely subsumed by the Go.com name, and if the portal goes away, will it take the search engine (and Go Guides Directory) with it?
posted by Aaaugh! at 9:49 PM on January 28, 2001


While the article isn't too clear, it seems to indicate that dumping Go as only one part of a broader cut of "internet operations."
posted by aaron at 10:08 PM on January 28, 2001


damn, they have the best horoscopes!

"troubled medium"?
posted by centrs at 10:55 PM on January 28, 2001


At least go-fly will finally be able to get the domain they must always have wanted.
posted by BobInce at 6:57 AM on January 29, 2001


The article reflects an annoying trend in recent media coverage of internet companies: assuming that a company closing reflects badly on the health of the entire internet.

"The retreat by one of the earliest traditional media groups to invest in web-based operations marks a further setback for the troubled medium. "

When a TV show is cancelled, do you ever hear a commentator say that "the cancellation of Survivor 2062 marks a further setback for the troubled medium?"
posted by jed at 7:38 AM on January 29, 2001


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