Somebody buy Google a beer. The tech giant turns 21 today (kind of)—and it’s marking the occasion with a Google Doodle celebrating itself.
Technically, Google launched on Sept. 4, 1998. The company, though, chooses to observe the date on different days, though even it’s not sure why. (Let’s face it, they’re hardly the only ones to shave a little off their age.)
The Doodle is usually reserved for celebrities or people who might be lesser known, but whose contributions to society were notable. Google, of course, qualifies for both, but making a Doodle for itself is akin to the Curiosity Rover stopping its exploration of Mars and singing Happy Birthday to itself in 2013.
The Doodle focuses on an average desktop computer from 21 years ago. The artwork has an old-school date print in the corner acknowledging the date and recreates the original logo, which took a page from Yahoo (its chief rival at the time, as mind boggling as that is to think about today), adding an exclamation point.
Google has come a long way from its search roots. It largely ushered in the modern information age. It’s now the primary source of email, news and word processing programs for millions of users. It’s a giant in the mobile phone space. It is a fierce competitor in the home automation market. And it’s about to launch its play to capture a part of the multibillion dollar video game industry.
That’s pretty good for a 21 year old. After all, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were four years older when they started the company.
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