The 2000s were the best times for internet. Nothing will compare to that. Some Saturday nights I feel so nostalgic that I prepare tea and I start browsing my favourite websites on web.archive... and I become sad.
It's debatable indeed. I'd still make the golden era later than 2000 and would say it definitely ended in or before 2014/15 at the latest when Google's web search got its big profit squeeze and (Google's, again, mostly) targeted ad prices went down such that long standing publications like Dr. Dobb's Journal gave up following BYTE in 2012, yielding to content farms and copycat sites. Furthermore, Google Reader was discontinued in 2013, which apparently was used a lot; for me personally RSS peaked in 2005-2010 but the RSS spec is from 1998 already. Speaking of "standards", there's a WHATWG-focussed timeline [1] starting with 2004 that may help to further pinpoint the begin of the end in the 2000s. Considering 2009 saw the break through of "HTML 5" oiled with lots of vulgar propaganda financed by big tech, all in all I'd say 2000-2010 feels about right to call the golden era. The responsive push following the 2007 iPhone launch made the web complicated and helped apps more than the web. Paradoxically, the best times happened to be when Ajax sites were nascent and used as progressive enhancement, but by 2008, when Chrome/v8 hit the scene big time, party was already over for end users (as opposed to entrepreneurs).
Wow, this makes me sad. Back then, websites on the internet were merely a useful tool that you controlled. Now it's the opposite. Websites on the internet control you by completely hijacking your attention with highly optimized clickbait and ads that humans are wired to engage with.
Was this really originally broadcast in 16:9, or has the video been cropped (from 4:3) for modern sensibilities? If so, it seems contrary to the role of preserving history which the saving of this video presumably has.
Amazing! 2000 feels not long ago to me. I remember when Google came on the scene and how much better the search was, then when they started offering gmail
I remember Gmail was hot. A friend invited me early on[1]. I wrote a blog post asking for one and got it that day. I started inviting people left and right. I remember setting up a specific time daily as a routine to invite others.
Crazy how far web design has come. The content of websites was a lot more compacted in the past. And how could we forget the (overly) liberal use of gifs?
It makes me wonder whether people in 2047 will look back on today's websites with the same impression.
I don't watch children's light entertainment/infotainment television anymore but it took me back to a big 90s SONY Trinitron and being home from school. I assume bolognese would be cooked for dinner. Things were cheaper and simpler.
