Yahoo finds 12 more products to get rid of

Yahoo Axis, Yahoo Browser Plus, RSS Alerts and AltaVista all going the way of the trash heap

Yahoo has been on a major shopping spree recently, gobbling up every start up it can find. At the same time, it has also been on a bit of, what I can only call, a killing spree. It is clearing the brush of a ton of old, outdated and repetative products, probably to make way for its new acquisitions.

In March seven products were shut down, followed by another six in April. Now Yahoo is cutting another 12 services, it was announced Friday.

In a very unusual move, some of the products were shut down the very same day as the announcement. (Way to give your users a heads up there, Yahoo!)

So here is what is going away, or has already been kicked to the curb this time around:

• Yahoo Axis, Yahoo Browser Plus were shut down on Friday. For Yahoo Axis, the browser plug-in will work if a user downloaded the app, but it won't be maintained. Users are encouraged to use the Yahoo Search app for iOS and Android instead.

• Citizen Sports was also shut down Friday, and users are encouraged to user the new Yahoo Sports app instead. 

• Yahoo WebPlayer is going away tomorrow, June 30th. Users will continue to be able to play media files using native browser support.

• FoxyTunes will be going away on July 1st, and will be consolidated into Yahoo Music.

• Yahoo RSS Alerts are also sticking around until July 1, after which users will have to subscribe to Keyword News alerts at Yahoo Alerts and receive them via email.

• Yahoo Neighbors Beta is being shut down on July 8th, and users are encouraged to visit Yahoo Local Search instead.

• The most notable service on this this list is AltaVista, the early web search engine which Yahoo took over in 2003 when it purchased Overture, which has bought AltaVista the same year. It was once one of thhe most popular search engines, but simply could not compete with Google and will now be saying goodbye on July 8th.

• Yahoo Stars India is shutting down on July 25th, in favor of Yahoo India OMG!

• Starting July 31st, Yahoo Downloads Beta will no longer support 3rd party downloads. It will continue to offer downloads of Yahoo! products like Yahoo! Toolbar  or Yahoo! Messenger.

• Yahoo Local API will be available until September 28th. As part of this shutdown, all Yahoo! Local API documentation will also be removed from the Yahoo! Developer Network portal.

• Yahoo Term Extraction API is also being closed on September 28th. Yahoo is eliminating direct access to it andm  as of September 28, developers will have to go through YQL instead. Yahoo is encouraging all existing users of the Term Extraction Legacy API to migrate to YQL requests by September 28. 

Other products and services that Yahoo has announced plans to shut down include Yahoo Avatars, Yahoo app for Blackberry, Yahoo Clues, Yahoo App Search, Yahoo Sports IQ, Yahoo Message Boards website, Yahoo Updates API, Yahoo Deals, SMS Alerts and Yahoo Kids.

CEO Marissa Mayer seems to be taking a page from her old company, Google, which has been doing a spring cleaning of its own, altering or removing over 50 products since 2011.

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