A personal portal can refer to a customized web page or hardware that allows access to the internet. The term arose from technical use and has become more specific to non-technical forms. Personal portals are now mostly software-based, with search engines like iGoogle and My Yahoo providing free access to personalized information. Users never leave the core system when using subsystems, resulting in more advertisements for the host page.
There are two common uses for the term personal portal. One is a customized web page where a user has access to personal information and can expand. This usage is very similar to a home on the web; a user has a personal slice of the Internet that is personalized just for him. The other usage refers to hardware that allows a home network user to access the Internet. In this case, the personal portal is basically a door; on the one hand there is the user and his network and on the other there is the Internet.
The use of personal portal as a hardware term arose from the technical meaning. In the early days of mass Internet use, there were many technical terms that filtered into the world of non-technical users. By this time, many large companies had been using internal networks for many years and had a number of terms relating to their systems.
Terms such as gateway and portal were in common use to describe internal network features. As these terms have been filtered into the general public, their usage has become more specific to their non-technical form. For example, because a portal is another word for door, it has started to take on a measure of that meaning. For the average computer user, the concept of “moving” from one’s personal home system to the broad, open Internet made a lot of sense.
The software form of the personal portal is probably the most correct one. In this case, a single company not only provides access to the Internet as a whole, but also provides access to other features. In the early days of mass Internet use, companies such as America Online® and CompuServe® were major players in the personal portal system. They let users go online using the company’s proprietary software. A user had an individual place they logged in, which gave them access to their personal information, almost like the desktop of a second computer.
Since the early 2000s, that personal portal brand is less socially relevant. Inexpensive, high-speed Internet, along with changes in the Web company industry, have made such portals obsolete. Users have started using less invasive systems, usually completely online. Search engines have become the leading form of personal portal with systems like iGoogle® and My Yahoo!® providing free access to news, sports and web research.
Regardless of the software used, the main factors are always the same. Users have the ability to access personalized information, typically from subsystems of the host web page. For example, iGoogle® allows users to easily integrate Gmail® and Google News® into personal web pages. While a user can get added value from having them available, he never leaves the core Google® system when he uses them. This means that users see more advertisements from the host page, which means that the host earns more per user from advertisers.
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