This is what Chrome, Gmail, iGoogle and other apps would have looked like in 1999

The use of digital devices has changed significantly and is likely to continue to change in the future. This applies to the devices as well as the technical possibilities and the software design. A designer has now thought about how the use of modern apps would have turned out with the possibilities of 1999. A video worth seeing shows Google Chrome and GMail under MacOS in the last millennium, among other things.

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Software designers not only like to look into the future but also into the past. Especially the development of personal computing in the last 30 years is very interesting. Personally, I started with Windows 3.11 based on DOS 6.22 a good 28 years ago, which was already considered quite advanced at the time. With today’s software world, above all with smartphones and tablets, of course not at all to be compared.

In 1999, thanks to the Internet, the possibilities were already quite varied, so the designer Michael Feeney thought about how the modern apps of today would have looked on the basis of a MacOS from back then, including the technical limitations of the time. In four and a half minute video, we see the macOS desktop, Spotify in iTunes-like design, Google Chrome browser including Gmail, Slack, Zoom and other tools.

Google Chrome is not only about the browser, but also about the Gmail website and an interesting mix of a Google Apple website, which is quite reminiscent of the iGoogle of the time. Just take a look at the following screenshots and the video embedded below. Everything looks usable, albeit not nearly as comfortable and with long waiting times.

The classic Google Chrome browser with a splash screen, of course. The browser not only received a logo adapted to the tastes of the time, but also a small lapse that the designer probably wasn’t paying attention to. Chrome browser is copyright 2008-2020 and Alphabet Inc. Does not fit the video, does not match the video posting and the Google products are owned by Google Inc. and not Alphabet Holding. But that doesn’t matter for the rest of the presentation.

The browser interface is a successful mix of then and now. The browser tabs, which were unthinkable outside of Opera at the time, are already available and the browser’s logo is always present in the top right-hand corner. Also, a peculiarity from back then, which I remember mainly from MS Internet Explorer 4 and 5. Only with the eternal version 6.0 was, it said goodbye. But Spotify, Slack and Zoom are also very interesting. The last with video telephony and the high-speed connections from back then.

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