Browse Internet History with the Wayback Machine
Do you remember Rocky & Bullwinkle? If you do, then you’ll remember the “Wayback Machine”. That was one of my favorite parts of the Rocky & Bullwinkle show – along with “Fractured Fairy Tales”.
If you’ve been on and around the Web for as long as we have, then you too have seen tremendous changes to the way the Web looks and works. Back in the mid-’90s when we first laid eyes on the Internet, it was a far different place than it is today. Back then if someone asked what you did last night and you said “I surfed the web” – you were labeled a geek, a kook, or worse. The Internet was an oddity. And back then I don’t think even Darcy & I, who both loved the Internet the minute we first laid eyes on it, ever thought it would develop into what it has today. The Internet grew from an oddity to a necessity in less than twenty-five years.
A lot of the sites that started when we did are gone. And so sometimes when we look back at the way things were, we get a little misty-eyed. Some of the sites that perished were rivals and some were friends, but regardless, it was hard to watch vanish from the Internet. Luckily, Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine can bring all those sites – and more back to life.
For those of you, like us, who sometimes find themselves longing for the good old days of the web, there’s a website that can transport you back in time – back to the days when the web was a simpler place – a place where almost everything was free and the term “web designer” was used to describe spiders – the kind with eight legs.
Let’s go back in time and look at Cloudeight Stationery. Back in those days, our site was ranked in the top five hundred most popular sites.
Here is what Cloudeight Stationery looked like on December 12, 2003. (If you go back farther than that you’ll get the “Netscape version” of our site, no matter what browser you use. Back in those days, only Internet Explorer rendered our site and stationery correctly – but that was OK then, since over 95% of everyone using Windows and browsing the Internet used Internet Explorer – there was no Firefox or Chrome.)
And here is what Cloudeight Stationery looked like on June 2, 2004.
And here’s our Cloudeight Stationery Home Page on February 7, 2006 – back when we were rockin’ and rollin’.
How about Microsoft circa 1998?
Or Amazon in 1999?
Here’s what Google looked like in 1998.
And one of my favorite sites of all time – unfortunately long gone from the Web: DaveCentral.com – The first thing I’d do every morning is get up, go to DaveCentral and download all the new freeware he recommended for the day. Darcy used to laugh at the stuff I’d put on my computer. I ran into problems being so aggressive and installing new programs so prolifically, but I also discovered some great programs by trying all of Dave’s recommendations. RIP DaveCentral!
Here’s DaveCentral on December 11, 1998.
Do have favorite sites that have faded away or sites that you once loved that have changed for the worse? Maybe you’re just curious about what your favorite websites looked like way back when?
The Internet Archive: Wayback Machine has nearly 600 BILLION web pages archived and ready for your perusal.
So, are you ready to hop aboard the Internet time machine and go back to another place and time? If you are, click here to visit The Internet Archive: Wayback Machine ….
Have fun!
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