The Ghost of Internet Past At Your Fingertips
We have both been surfing and using the Internet for over 20 years. So we know what the Web was like then. If you’ve been on the Internet less than 10 year, you don’t remember the pioneer days of the Old Internet. We used to fight over which was better Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. TC used Netscape and Darcy used IE. IE 3x was terrible but when Internet Explorer 4 came out – Microsoft it so right even TC used it.
How many of you would like to see the Internet and your favorite sites (if they even existed) they way there were 20 years ago, using the same browser that were available during the time you’re browsing. It’s a really unique experience for us to go back and relive those days – and for those of you who were not on the Internet 20 years go – you’ll see how simple and innocent is used to be. Well, it was innocent to us – we didn’t venture on the nascent “adult” sites.
We browsed back to 1999-2000 and looked at Cloudeight Stationery exactly as it was early late in 1999. We also went back and browsed a site that we used to visit every morning – couldn’t wait – DaveCentral.com. He always had new freeware – and good freeware – every morning. We were like kids in a candy store.
Oh how things have changed.
Here’s how Cloudeight Stationery looked late in 1999 and early 2000. This is as it appeared in Internet Explorer 4.
And here is good old DaveCentral.com circa 2000 as seen in Internet Explorer.
Below, you can view the the past using your browser of choice from the era you’re viewing. This gives you a more authentic trip to the past than using a modern browser. For our time travel we choose IE 4 because IE 3 was a crash-prone, buggy browser.
After we select our time-machine (browser) we choose the site we want to view and the date in the past that we want to view it. Below we chose to view http://thundercloud.net/stationery/ on 22 December 1999.
You can see by the timeline (above) the date Cloudeight Stationery firsr appeared on the Web. Thundercloud.net started in the fall of 1998.
So, by now you get the idea, I think.
- Choose a Time Machine (a browser)
- Choose a site
- Choose a date in the past that you want to view the site
So…all you need to know now is where to find this? It’s easy, just got to http://oldweb.today
It’s easy to use and you’ll love taking journeys to the past using the browsers of bygone eras.
If you can’t think of any sites or the ones you want to see weren’t around long ago click the “I’m Feeling Random” button. You never know what you’ll dig up.
Oh those halcyon days, EB.! We used to get along then 🙂
Above: Microsoft.com circa 1999.
Your turn. Visit http://oldweb.today and start your journey back in time.
Talk about bringing back memories.
Great find. The only URL that I could think of off-hand from years ago, was GeoCities. I loved spending time on that site. Then Yahoo bought it and destroyed it. I’ll have to go back to “oldweb.today” when I have more time.
How well I remember the “old days”. I loved the Info Ave stationery site and the name that tune feature they used to have (which I won one year). I wish I could use stationery in gmail *sigh*. So many good sites have gone by the wayside. The Internet is not as much fun as it used to be. So many things bog it down. Too many ads, too many graphics that demand higher speeds, too many nefarious con artists lurking around every click. I still enjoy using my computer. Sometimes it’s a love/hate relationship but as long as we have TC and EB to sort things out for us and fix our mistakes I will be eternally grateful. Thanks guys! Have a great Christmas and 2016!
What fun!! I had totally forgotten how some of the old browsers looked – got my chuckle for the day, (I also was a big Netscape fan back then.) But somehow, I found myself with a case of nostalgia for the more “innocent” days – when browsing the web had the capability to astound us. I remember the first time I talked with someone in Australia using the built-in microphone in my monitor. I thought that was the greatest thing and couldn’t imagine how things could advance any further. That was just the beginning – look how far we’ve come!
Hi TC & EB,
Just a quick question. Do I still have a computer repair call that I didn’t use from a year or two ago?