View source for AltaVista

{{short description|Web search engine}}
{{Redirect|Alta Vista}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox website
| name = AltaVista
| logo = Altavista logo.png
| logo_size = 120
| foundation = {{start date and age|1995}}
| location_city = [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]], [[California]]
| location_country = [[United States|U.S.]]
| key_people = {{Plain list|
* [[Ilene H. Lang]]
* [[Paul Flaherty (computer scientist)|Paul Flaherty]]
* [[Louis Monier]]
* [[Michael Burrows (computer scientist)|Michael Burrows]]
* [[Jeff Black (businessman)|Jeff Black]]
}}
| parent = {{Plain list|
* [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] (1998)
* [[Yahoo! Search Marketing|Overture Services]] (2003)
* [[Yahoo]] (2003–2013)
}}
| url = {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225001046/http://www.altavista.com/|title=altavista.com}}
| screenshot = Altavista-1999.png
| screenshot_size = 300px
| caption = Top: 2002–2013 AltaVista logo<br />Bottom: The AltaVista [[web portal]] in 1999
| website_type = [[Web search engine|Search engine]]
| language = [[Multilingualism|Multilingual]]
| advertising = Yes
| registration = No
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1995|12|15}}
| current_status = Defunct ({{End date|2013|07|08}})<ref name="defunct" />
}}
'''AltaVista''' was a [[web search engine]] established in 1995. It became one of the most-used early search engines, but lost ground to [[Google Search|Google]] and was purchased by [[Yahoo!]] in 2003, which retained the brand, but based all AltaVista searches on its own search engine. On July 8, 2013, the service was shut down by Yahoo!, and since then the domain has [[URL redirection|redirected]] to [[Yahoo! Search|Yahoo!'s own search site]].<ref name="defunct">{{cite web|url=http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/54125001066/keeping-our-focus-on-whats-next|website=yahoo.tumblr.com|title=Keeping our Focus on What's Next|first=Jay|last=Rossiter|date=June 28, 2013|access-date=June 16, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629060320/http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/54125001066/keeping-our-focus-on-whats-next |archive-date=2013-06-29}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The word "AltaVista" is formed from the words for "high view" or "upper view" in Spanish (alta + vista); thus, it colloquially translates to "overview".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/altavista_history.php|title=Search engine rankings on Alta Vista: a brief history of the AltaVista search engine|website=websearchworkshop.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2063925/whats-in-a-search-engines-name|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103053032/http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2063925/whats-in-a-search-engines-name |archive-date=2015-01-03|website=Search Engine Watch|title=What's In A (Search Engine's) Name?|first=Chris|last=Sherman|date=October 8, 2003|access-date=September 3, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Origins ==
AltaVista was created by researchers at [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s [[DEC Systems Research Center|Network Systems Laboratory and Western Research Laboratory]] who were trying to provide services to make finding files on the public network easier.<ref name="ray-ray-selzer">{{cite book|first1=Eric J.|last1=Ray|first2=Deborah S.|last2=Ray|first3=Richard|last3=Selzer|title=The AltaVista Search Revolution|publisher=Osborne/McGraw-Hill|edition=2nd|date=May 1, 1998|isbn=978-0-07-882435-7 }}</ref> [[Paul Flaherty (computer scientist)|Paul Flaherty]] came up with the original idea,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://domainnamewire.com/2011/06/01/viking-office-products-tries-to-take-sentimental-domain-name-from-altavista-inventors-widow|work=Domain Name Wire|title=Viking Office Products Tries to Take Sentimental Domain Name from Altavista Inventor's Widow|first=Andrew|last=Alleman|date=June 1, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1383534.htm|work=ADR Forum|title=National Arbitration Forum Decision Claim Number: FA1104001383534|author=Daniel B. Banks Jr. |date=May 31, 2011|access-date=January 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622004825/http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1383534.htm|archive-date=June 22, 2012}}</ref> along with [[Louis Monier]] and [[Michael Burrows (computer scientist)|Michael Burrows]], who wrote the [[Web crawler]] and [[Search engine indexing|indexer]], respectively. The name "AltaVista" was chosen in relation to the surroundings of their company at [[Palo Alto, California]]. AltaVista publicly launched as an Internet search engine on December 15, 1995.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/18/business/digital-equipment-offers-web-browsers-its-super-spider.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Digital Equipment Offers Web Browsers Its 'Super Spider'|first=Peter H.|last=Lewis|date=December 18, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite newsgroup|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/biz.digital.announce/F2c3nAcE9mw/Sf7GGHzbnhsJ|title=Digital Develops Internet's First 'Super Spider'|author=Digital Press and Analysts News|date=December 15, 1995|newsgroup=biz.digital.announce | access-date=February 26, 2007}}</ref>  

Ilene H. Lang was the founding CEO of AltaVista after being recruited by Digital Equipment Corporation to build its software business.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=6240|work=[[Harvard Business Review]]|title=2017 Alumni Achievement Award Recipient|first=Susan|last=Young|date=May 24, 2017}}</ref>

At launch, the service had two innovations that put it ahead of other search engines available at the time: It used a fast, [[multithreading (software)|multi-threaded]] [[web crawler|crawler]] (Scooter) that could cover many more [[World Wide Web|Web]] pages than were believed to exist at the time, and it had an efficient [[backend database|back-end search]], running on advanced hardware.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Simson L. |last2=Grunspan |first2=Rachel H. |title=The Computer Book: From the Abacus to Artificial Intelligence, 250 Milestones in the History of Computer Science |date=15 January 2019 |publisher=Union Square + ORM |isbn=978-1-4549-2622-1 |page=597 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwSfEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT597 |language=en}}</ref>

== Popularity ==
[[File:Altavista-1996.png|thumb|right|The AltaVista home page in 1996, showing the simple search interface]]
AltaVista was the first searchable, full-text [[database]] on the [[World Wide Web]] with a simple interface.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web| url=http://www.thehistoryofseo.com/The-Industry/Short_History_of_Early_Search_Engines.aspx| title=Short History of Early Search Engines| work=The History of SEO| access-date=2019-02-05| archive-date=January 21, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121213229/http://www.thehistoryofseo.com/The-Industry/Short_History_of_Early_Search_Engines.aspx| url-status=dead}}</ref> Another distinguishing feature of AltaVista was its [[Minimalism (computing)|minimalistic]] interface, which was lost when it became a [[Web portal]], but regained when it refocused its efforts on its search function. It also allowed the user to limit search results from a domain, reducing the likelihood of multiple results from the same source.

AltaVista's site was an immediate success. Traffic increased steadily from 300,000 hits on the first day to more than 80 million hits per day two years later. The ability to search the Web, and AltaVista's service in particular, became the subject of numerous articles and even some books.<ref name="ray-ray-selzer" /> The AltaVista site became one of the top destinations on the Web, and in 1997 it earned US$50 million in [[Sponsor (commercial)|sponsorship]] revenue.<ref name="John Battelle 2005">{{cite book|title=The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture|first=John|last=Battelle|publisher=[[Portfolio (publisher)|Portfolio publishing]]|date=September 14, 2006|isbn=978-1-85788-362-6}}</ref> It was the 11th most visited Web site in 1998 and in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tech.co/news/top-20-popular-websites-1996-present-infographic-2014-12|website=tech.co|title=The Top 20 Most Popular Websites: 1996 to the Present [INFOGRAPHIC]|first=Ronald|last=Barba|date=December 26, 2014}}</ref>

AltaVista was the most favored search engine used by professional researchers at the "Internet Search-Off" study in February 1998, with 45 percent of the researchers choosing it. Second place belonged to [[HotBot]] at 20 percent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/feb/story1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205055941/http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/feb/story1.htm|work=[[Information Today]]|title=The Internet Search-Off|first=Susan|last=Feldman|archive-date=December 5, 1998}}</ref>

By using the data collected by the crawler, employees from AltaVista, together with others from [[IBM]] and [[Compaq]], were the first to analyze the strength of connections within the budding World Wide Web in a seminal study in 2000.<ref>{{cite conference |title=Graph structure in the web |conference=9th International WWW Conference, Amsterdam, May 2000 |first1=Andrei |last1=Broder |first2=Ravi |last2=Kumar |first3=Farzin |last3=Maghoul |first4=Prabhakar |last4=Raghavan |first5=Sridhar |last5=Rajagopalan |first6=Raymie |last6=Stata |first7=Andrew |last7=Tomkins |first8=Janet |last8=Wiener |url=https://snap.stanford.edu/class/cs224w-readings/broder00bowtie.pdf}}</ref>

In 2000, AltaVista was used by 17.7% of Internet users while [[Google Search|Google]] was used by only 7% of Internet users, according to [[Media Metrix]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/2000/10/20/1020alta.html#1df6fbbe79f3|work=[[Forbes]]|title=Don't Count AltaVista Out Yet|last=Patsuris|first=Penelope|date=October 20, 2000}}</ref>

== Technology ==

AltaVista was based on weighted boolean search.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Silverstein |first=Craig |last2=Marais |first2=Hannes |last3=Henzinger |first3=Monika |last4=Moricz |first4=Michael |date=September 1999 |title=Analysis of a very large web search engine query log |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/331403.331405 |journal=ACM SIGIR Forum |language=en |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=6–12 |doi=10.1145/331403.331405 |issn=0163-5840|url-access=subscription }}</ref> There were two major search modes: simple querying and advanced querying.

=== Query format ===
A "simple query" looked like `word1 word2 "phrase" -word3 +word4` which was interpreted as "(word1 OR word2 OR "phrase") AND NOT word3 AND word4". Words within double quotes were phrases: they must be adjacent in a document for the document to match the query. A "query term" was a word or a phrase.

An "advanced query" was an explicit Boolean expression. In advanced query mode, `and`, `or`, and `not` were interpreted as Boolean operators rather than as search terms. Advanced queries may have also included `near`: the words on either side of `near` must be close -- but not necessarily adjacent.

Both simple and advanced queries supported `host:xx.yy.zz` which queried only documents found on the [[hostname]] ([[Domain name|web domain]]) `xx.yy.zz`. A pull-down menu allowed the user to restrict result pages only to pages in a particular language. In the advanced search, an input box allowed the user to restrict the results to pages last modified on a certain date, or within a range of dates.

AltaVista returned URLs ranked by its internal "relevance function". Each page contained 10 URLs. The user may click on "3", for instance, to get to the 21st-30th most relevant URLs. This differed from some other search engines, where the user could jump to only the next 10 or previous 10 URLs.

=== Query log ===
AltaVista logged user requests in a "query log" A request may consist of a new query or a new result screen for a previously submitted query. Each request included the following fields: [[Unix time|Unix timestamp]] for the query; [[HTTP cookie|cookie]] (blank if the user had disabled cookies); query terms; result URLs; other user-specified query modifiers, such as a restriction on the result pages' language or date of last modification; metadata, such as whether the query was a simple or an advanced query, the browser the submitter was using, the IP address of the submitting host, etc.

AltaVista collected session information to study querying behavior. A "session" was a cluster of queries in a short time by a single user. Queries with the same cookie were assumed to come from the same user. For those 4% of queries in which the user had disallowed cookies, a cluster of queries coming from the same web browser on the same domain IP was treated as a session. This method was a poor substitute for cookies, particularly on large ISPs such as AOL, where the number of users sharing a single IP address could be around 10,000.

== Business transactions ==
In 1996, AltaVista became the exclusive provider of search results for [[Yahoo!]]. In 1998, Digital was sold to Compaq, and in 1999, Compaq redesigned AltaVista as a Web portal, hoping to compete with Yahoo!. Under CEO Rod Schrock, AltaVista abandoned its streamlined search page and focused on adding features such as shopping and free e-mail.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/AltaVista-Switches-Web-Portal-Into-High-Gear-2792878.php|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|title=AltaVista Switches Web Portal Into High Gear / Revamped site adds new services|first=Verne|last=Kopytoff|date=March 27, 2000}}</ref>  In June 1998, Compaq paid AltaVista Technology Incorporated (ATI) $3.3 million for the [[domain name]] ''altavista.com''&nbsp;– Jack Marshall, cofounder of ATI, had registered the name in 1994.

In June 1999, Compaq sold a majority stake in AltaVista to [[ModusLink Global Solutions|CMGI]], an Internet investment company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/147101|work=internet.com|title=CMGI Acquires 83 Percent of AltaVista for $2.3 Billion|first=Cyrus|last=Afzali|date=June 29, 1999}}</ref> CMGI filed for an [[initial public offering]] (IPO) for AltaVista to take place in April 2000, but when the [[Dot-com bubble|Internet bubble]] collapsed, the IPO was cancelled.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com/2100-1023-250836.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104025710/http://www.news.com/2100-1023-250836.html|archive-date=January 4, 2013|work=news.com|title=AltaVista cancels proposed IPO|first=Cecily|last=Barnes|date=January 10, 2001}}</ref> Meanwhile, it became clear that AltaVista's [[Web portal]] strategy was unsuccessful, and the search service began losing market share, especially to Google. After a series of layoffs and several management changes, AltaVista gradually shed its portal features and refocused on search. By 2002, AltaVista had improved the quality and freshness of its results and redesigned its user interface.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2002/11/altavista-makeover-a-better-view|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|title=AltaVista Makeover: A Better View|first=Joanna|last=Glasner|date=November 13, 2002}}</ref>

In February 2003, AltaVista was bought by [[Yahoo! Search Marketing#Origins of GoTo.com|Overture Services, Inc.]] for $140 million.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/19/business/technology-overture-services-to-buy-altavista-for-140-million.html|work=The New York Times|title=Overture Services to Buy AltaVista for $140 Million|first=Saul|last=Hansell|date=February 19, 2003}}</ref> In July 2003, Overture was taken over by Yahoo!.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1102.html|work=Yahoo! Media Relations|title=YAHOO! TO ACQUIRE OVERTURE (press release)|date=July 14, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708055621/http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1102.html|archive-date=July 8, 2007}}</ref> After Yahoo! purchased Overture, AltaVista used the same search index as Yahoo! Search - the same search engine it had provided results to previously.<ref name=":0" />

In December 2010, a Yahoo! employee leaked [[Microsoft PowerPoint|PowerPoint]] slides indicating that the search engine would shut down as part of a consolidation at Yahoo!.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 16, 2010 |title=RIP AltaVista, Yahoo Buzz, Delicious, MyBlogLog |work=Silicon Tap |url=http://www.silicontap.com/rip_altavista_yahoo_buzz_delicious_mybloglog/s-0032876.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526041126/http://www.silicontap.com/rip_altavista_yahoo_buzz_delicious_mybloglog/s-0032876.html |archive-date=2011-05-26}}</ref>

== Free services ==
AltaVista provided [[Babel Fish (website)|Babel Fish]], a [[World Wide Web|Web]]-based [[machine translation]] application that translated text or webpages from one of several languages into another.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infotektur.com/demos/babelfish/en.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990427232555/http://www.infotektur.com/demos/babelfish/en.html|website=infotektur.com|title=Babelfish: English|date=May 27, 1999|archive-date=April 27, 1999}}</ref> It was later superseded by Yahoo! Babel Fish in May 2008 and now redirects to [[Bing (search engine)|Bing]]'s translation service.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/translation/2012/05/30/welcoming-yahoo-babel-fish-users/|work=[[Microsoft Translator]] Blog|title=Welcoming Yahoo! Babel Fish users!|date=May 30, 2012}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

AltaVista also provided a free email service which had 200,000 active registered email accounts using the "altavista.com" domain and others before shutting down in March 2002. US accounts were closed; others were sold to [[Mail.com]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/02/20/altavista_cans_web_mail_service/|work=[[The Register]]|title=AltaVista cans Web mail service|first=Tim|last=Richardson|date=February 20, 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2587348/altavista-to-close-free-u-s--e-mail-accounts-next-month.html | title=AltaVista to close free U.S. E-mail accounts next month | date=February 22, 2002 }}</ref>

== First CAPTCHA system ==
To fight against an increasing number of [[internet bot|malicious internet bots]], AltaVista implemented the first practical [[CAPTCHA]] schemes to protect against fraudulent account registrations.<ref name="rg20">{{cite journal|journal=Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies |volume=4 |issue=2 |at=Article 43, pp. 1–26|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341459932|date=June 2020|first1=Yunhe|last1= Feng|first2=Qing|last2= Cao|first3=Hairong|last3= Qi|first4=Scott |last4= Ruoti|title=SenCAPTCHA: A Mobile-First CAPTCHA Using Orientation Sensors|doi=10.1145/3397312|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="or19">{{cite web|url=https://tipsmake.com/the-origin-of-captcha-and-recaptcha|date=24 May 2019|first=Micah|last=Soto|title=The origin of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA}}</ref><ref name="usp98">{{cite patent|country=United States|number=US6195698B1|invent1=Mark D. Lillibridge|invent2=Krishna Bharat|invent3=Martin Abadi|invent4=Andrei Z. Broder|pubdate=1998-04-13|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6195698B1/en}}</ref> They implemented it specifically to prevent [[Internet bot|bots]] from adding [[URL]]s to their [[Search engine|web search engine]].<ref name="or19" />

== Shutdown ==
On June 28, 2013, Yahoo! announced on its [[Tumblr]] page that AltaVista would shut down on July 8, 2013;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/yahoo-shuts-down-internet-relic-altavista-1.1354496|work=[[CBC News]]|title=Yahoo shuts down internet relic AltaVista|date=July 8, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://business.financialpost.com/2013/07/08/yahoo-sends-search-engine-relic-altavista-to-internet-graveyard|work=[[National Post]]|title=Yahoo sends search engine relic AltaVista to Internet graveyard|date=July 8, 2013}}</ref> since that date, visits to AltaVista's home page redirect to Yahoo!'s main page.<ref name="defunct"/>

== See also ==
{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area|Companies}}
* [[List of search engines]]
{{-}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225001046/http://www.altavista.com/|title=Official website}}

{{Web search engines}}
{{Digital Equipment Corporation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altavista}}
[[Category:Digital Equipment Corporation]]
[[Category:Defunct internet search engines]]
[[Category:Defunct American websites]]
[[Category:History of the Internet]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1995]]
[[Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Companies based in Palo Alto, California]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1995]]
[[Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2013]]
[[Category:1995 establishments in California]]
[[Category:2013 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]