In pics: Tech platforms that are no longer in existence

The emergence of tech platforms has changed many lives. However, in the dynamic world of technology, several platforms have come and gone even though they spearheaded the market at their peak.

Here are some tech platforms that went under in the past decade.

Launched in 1995, Internet Explorer is Microsoft's oldest browser which initially came add-on package for Windows 95 and was later provided for free. The browser's peak usage was in the year 2003 at 95%. 

Microsoft recently announced that the browser will be completely shut down from June 15. 

(Image credit: flickr)

Launched in 2013, Vine was a social media app for making short form video. The app only allowed a maximum of six-second videos on loop which were easy easy to share on other platforms as well. Vine attracted a huge consumer base with millions of users. The app was discontinued in October 2016 by its parent firm, Twitter. 

Google plus was launched in the year 2011 as a competition to other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. With nothing new or interesting to offer to its users, the platform was shut after eight years on April 2, 2019.

Started in 2005, Yahoo answers was one of the longest running web question and answer platforms which was discontinued on May 4 last year. The usage and relevance of the platform was on the decline after several other platforms like Reddit and Quora started gaining more popularity.

Owned and operated by Google, Orkut was a social networking platform launched in January 2004. The platform was most popular in India and Brazil and was at its peak in the year 2008. Google later discontinued the platform in 2014 due to decline in usage and other competing platforms but an archive of Orkut is still available for its users.