Is Google ditching pagerank?

Rumor has it that Google may be getting rid of the elusive, but very important PageRank -- that friendly green status bar on the Google Toolbar that website owners try to build up. PageRank is what made Google's search results as good as they are -- it is one of the many factors that help the search engine determine how to rank results.

The webmasters at Digital Point want some clarification though. It's been far too long since the last "Pagerank toolbar export" happened, and that doesn't sit will with people who put effort into building links.

We, the webmasters at Digitalpoint and I think thousands, even millions of other SEO enthusiasts are wondering when will the next Pagerank toolbar export take place?

As we put a lot of work into link building and making our sites better all the time, toolbar Pagerank is very important to us;

but this is the longest delay ever. Furthermore, nobody knows what will happen to Pagerank.

So Google, please be so kind and tell us what's going on and when the next estimated FULL update is coming! Is Google dropping the toolbar pagerank for good?

Perhaps Google is starting to incorporate Orion -- the search algorithm invented by Australian student, Ori Allon, and snatched up by Google. When the news first broke, Ori said he expected the algorithm to be complete within 18 months. How long ago was that? Oh, about 18 months ago.