This iconic search engine was used by early internet users back in the late 1990s.
Ask.com has officially shut down after nearly 30 years.(Image: Getty Images)
After nearly 30 years, internet search engine Ask.com has officially shut down. Formerly known as Ask Jeeves, the search engine was popular with earlier users in the late 90s when they started to slowly integrate the internet into their lives.
Created in 1996, Ask Jeeves is even older than popular browser Google – which began two years later in 1998. While limited to the vast amount of knowledge we can now access through the internet, the service allowed users to ask the personal butler Jeeves a question in the search box using keywords and natural language.
While Jeeves was an iconic mascot for the site, he was sadly phased out in 2006 as it could no longer compete with the other search engines on the market at the time. As a result, the site was rebranded to Ask.com in hopes of bringing more users back to the service.
However, not all good things are meant to last as it was recently announced that the search engine has been officially shut down. InterActiveCorp (IAC), owner of the site since 2005, issued a statement saying: “Every great search must come to an end.
“As IAC continues to sharpen its focus, we have made the decision to discontinue our search business, which includes Ask.com. After 25 years of answering the world’s questions, Ask.com officially closed on May 1, 2026.”
It added: “We are deeply grateful to the brilliant engineers, designers, and teams who built and supported Ask over the decades. And to you—the millions of users who turned to us for answers in a rapidly changing world—thank you for your endless curiosity, your loyalty, and your trust. Jeeves’ spirit endures.”
Ask Jeeves was created by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California, in 1996, before being launched a year later to the public, reports the Sun.
The iconic character of Jeeves was inspired by the P.G. Wodehouse’s 1920s collection of stories from Carry On, Jeeves, which follows the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his personal valet.
This comes after Microsoft announced it will be fully shutting down its Outlook Lite app on May 25, 2026, which provided Android users access to their Outlook email essentials in a smaller size.
Designed to work with low-resource phones and on slower networks, the app has been downloaded by over 10million users since it was launched in 2022.
However, from May 25 users of the app will find that they will no longer be able to access their mailbox and any in-app navigation and functionalities will cease to work.
As such, users of the lite edition should begin moving to the Outlook Mobile app. However, Microsoft does note that while the app will stop working, user accounts won’t be disabled or deleted.
This means that once users sign into the full Outlook app they will have access to all of their existing emails, calendar items and attachments.
Neowin says: “This change will not require any action on the part of admins, however, it may still be a good idea to let users know that Outlook Lite will be inaccessible soon and guide them on switching to Outlook Mobile from the Google Play Store.
“Microsoft also suggests updating any affected internal documentation or helpdesk guidance if Outlook Lite is referenced.”
