Delicious 2.0 Imminent Again
Yahoo's inability to launch Delicious 2.0, which was feature complete and in private beta back in September 2007, has become a bit of a joke around Silicon Valley. — Last month we called on Yahoo to provide guidance on when we might see the new version of the service.
Context & Ripple Effects
Delicious had been one of Yahoo's few genuinely loved acquisitions, and by January the company was at least putting it to work, having integrated bookmarking data into Yahoo search results. But the next-generation product itself — feature complete and in private beta since September 2007 — remained unshipped ten months later, turning the delay into a running joke in Silicon Valley and prompting TechCrunch to publicly demand a launch date.
First-order effects
- Delicious users remain locked on the old version while a finished replacement sits idle, and Yahoo's own credibility as a steward of acquired products takes visible damage with every month of silence.
Second-order effects
- The stagnation invites rivals and would-be buyers to circle the asset — a pattern that later surfaced when Yahoo reportedly sounded out Digg about taking Delicious over, per Kevin Rose's account of the approach.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, neglected web services get spun out or sold rather than killed outright: Delicious ultimately left Yahoo for a relaunch under YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, showing that community-built data libraries can outlive their corporate owners even after years of drift.
The trend: Large portals increasingly struggle to maintain acquired community products, setting up a decade-long cycle of neglect, divestiture, and rescue for early social-web services.