We're Back!
After a short hiatus due to recent discord, BetaNews is alive and kicking once again. The BetaNews team is working hard to get everything back on track and have a few important announcements coming up in the near future. We would like to thank everyone for their patience these last three weeks and will be holding a giveaway shortly to show how grateful we are. With that said, let's get to some beta news. Those interested in the recent split may read on, as we do not wish to leave anyone in the dark.
As many of you know, BetaNews launched eFront, Inc. in November of 1999. This was a creation of our own, intended to bring together highly-specialized technology-oriented Web sites into a single network. We were not purchased by eFront. A few sites that BetaNews was in talks with regarding joining the eFront Network happened to be picked up by a small start-up by the name of Netwhirl Communication.
Netwhirl had decent income, small funding, and the resources to do what we at BetaNews were looking to achieve with eFront. After months of discussions with Netwhirl, we realized we were going to need help accomplishing what we had set out to do and Netwhirl seemed like the perfect fit. eFront, Inc. merged with Netwhirl and eFront Media, Inc. was born.
Unfortunately the concept was quickly lost, as page impressions became more important than an actual product and eFront Media, Inc. turned into one of the largest Web site aggregators on the Internet. Because eFront, Inc. was much smaller than Netwhirl, our stake in the company was very tiny, making it hard to influence decisions and we were left to sit back and watch the show.
The rest is history, as a tanking advertising market and corporate struggles made some people say things they would later regret. A once great idea was run aground by poor decisions and a refusal to change.
BetaNews has spent the last three weeks making our split from eFront Media, rebuilding our server farm, and more importantly finishing the new site we planned to launch over seven months ago. Obviously we are only a handful of guys on a limited budget, so it will take time to get back to where we want to be.
Once again, thank you for all of your support - you guys are the best. We will be making some announcements shortly regarding open positions and asking for feedback in preparation for the re-launch. If you have any questions, comments, flames, etc. please feel free to e-mail me, or any of us at BetaNews.