With the appointment of a new CEO, a major reorganization, and the transition to new products, Microsoft is entering a whole new era. But this is hardly the first time the company has made a major shift, and there’s no better place to visualize these past transitions than via the company’s public-facing website.
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Starting in 1994, Microsoft used the World Wide Web as a showcase for its products and design. While early iterations were limited by the Web standards of the day, the evolving appearance of Microsoft.com revealed the company’s most important moments, from the launch of Windows XP to MSN to Windows Phone.
Now, thanks to Speaker Deck user Petri Piirainen, users can look back at this history with a year-by-year slideshow of the Microsoft homepage, from 1994 to 2014. Younger users will likely gasp at the primitive look of the company’s early designs, but readers of a certain age will be reminded of those wild, exciting days of the early Web.
For even more nostalgia, check out Gizmodo’s list of still-functioning “ancient” websites.
