I was not at all surprised when Ancestry.com made their announcement last week that they were “retiring” a number of their services, specifically MyFamily, MyCanvas, Genealogy.com, Mundia and the Y-DNA and mtDNA tests. Honestly, I’m surprised that it took them this long on a number of them. The announcement was made over a week ago, but I am just now getting around to blogging about it, having been distracted by our move from Utah to Washington State. Following is their announcement:
We’re proud of the variety of products we’ve created over the years that enable people to discover, preserve and share their family history. We recognize that there are a lot of ways that we, as a company, can make family history easier, more accessible and more fun for people all over the world. And we’re continually innovating to make it a reality.
We’re always looking to focus our efforts in a way that provide the most impact, while also delivering the best service and best product experience to users. To that end, we’ve decided to retire some of our services: MyFamily, MyCanvas, Genealogy.com, Mundia and the Y-DNA and mtDNA tests.
Starting September 5, 2014, these services will no longer be available to access. Genealogy.com is the exception to the rule, and will continue in a slightly different form. If you are an active member or subscriber to one of these services, you will be contacted directly with details of how to transition the information you’ve created using these services.
We know these services have provided value to you. We think they’re pretty cool too, which is why this wasn’t an easy decision for us to make. In the end, it came down to priorities and we think our core offerings are a great place to spend our time and resources.
So here’s to revolutionizing family history, focusing on providing the best product experience we can offer and to the limitless possibilities that lie before us.
