Google is killing off iGoogle

I suspect that anyone reading this may have never heard of iGoogle and is likely one of the reasons the Google camp is killing a somewhat useful extension to their web portal.

An un-remembered time ago Google launched a web portal called iGoogle that gave you a useful front-end to the normally stark and plain searching homepage.  The portal allowed you to add "apps" to the page so you could easily get to things like Google news, Gmail, Gchat along with custom things like RSS and flash games.  I've been using iGoogle ever since it was first announced and it has been my homepage ever since.

Over the past year Google has been changing things on the Google homepage and eventually dropped the direct link to iGoogle which signaled the beginning of the end.  Today they have posted a very short explanation stating that iGoogle is going away in November of 2013 and to pack your shiz and get the flip out.  (not their exact words)

What's happening to iGoogle?
iGoogle will be retired in 16 months, on November 1, 2013. The mobile version will be retired on July 31, 2012.

How did you come to this decision?
We originally launched iGoogle in 2005 before anyone could fully imagine the ways that today's web and mobile apps would put personalized, real-time information at your fingertips. With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for something like iGoogle has eroded over time, so we'll be winding down iGoogle on November 1, 2013, giving you a full 16 months to adjust or easily export your iGoogle data.

Check out the iGoogle announcement page for more gory details and the lack luster explanation for the change.  Makes you wonder how long it will take for Google+ to find a similar home.

Related Web URL: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?...