This was just posted once more to the
Ancestry.com blog. I
think this is the 4th time we have had such official
announcements and all thus far have proven to be wrong but I
will share it anyway. They have made some of the data
available for free but much of it is still hidden behind the
paid subscription databases.
Nola
http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1792
Hi, my name is Kendall Hulet, and I'm a product manager at
Ancestry.com.I've probably met a lot of you at FGS, NGS, and
other conferences. If not, I look forward to meeting you in
the future.
I wanted to write you a note because I'm extremely concerned
about the frustrations that the recently-removed Internet
Biographical Collection has caused. We had hoped to provide
a way for you to be able to search the entire web easily for
genealogically-relevant pages and provide for preservation
of sources for future generations. In looking back, we
understand why members of the community are upset. We've
heard you loud and clear, and we've removed this product
with no intention of re-releasing it. Instead, it is my hope
that someday we'll be able to provide a free web search
engine that links directly back to the live web pages, and
can become a useful tool to the genealogical community. If
we do move forward with this type of initiative, we will
seek your input and talk more with community leaders to make
sure we get it right.
Kendall Hulet