"While the layoffs and shutdowns obviously indicate a de-emphasis of
technology products by Yahoo, they aren't necessarily unwarranted," writes
AllThingsD's NetworkEffect blog. "Some of these products were the same as those mentioned on then-SVP Brad Garlinghouse's infamous Peanut Butter Memo way back in 2006 as candidates for
streamlining."
Expected or not, the neglect and eventual demise of these products has struck a nerve with tech watchers.
Regarding social bookmarking service
Delicious, ReadWriteWeb mourns, "It's a loss not just for the many people who used Delicious to
archive links of interest to them around the web, it's a loss for the future -- for what could have been."
"Delicious was also a social system ahead of its time-and that gives a
glimpse of how much opportunity in the area Yahoo squandered," the Financial Times scolds.
Implying that
misery does, in fact, love company, FT.com adds: "Yahoo employees have been suffering from low morale as their numbers thin. Now they may feel less alone: Yahoo's enormous audience is starting to feel
the pinch as well, one bit at a time."
In a statement, Yahoo said: "Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products
to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond."
Earlier this week, Chief Executive Carol Bartz told the Associated Press she would increase operating profit margins to as much as 24% by 2013. As the Los
Angeles Times notes, that would be from about 12% through the first nine months of this year.