Amazon Now 15 Years Old, Most Other Websites Not So Lucky
Amazon made its first sale 15 years ago today.
Esquire is marking this anniversary with a funny look back at other great websites that haven't made it to Amazon's hoary old age. In San Francisco, even in 2004, everyone had a personal story about how they almost made it big with startup X or website Y. Hell, even cab drivers would tell you about how they used to hang out with dotcom millionaires, who would pay them extravagantly to stay up all night waiting to drive a gaggle of 20-year-old coders to Denny's. Oh, what a time.
In any case, here's Esquire's list, which brings all kinds of warm memories flooding back to me:
- Online retailers that promised to deliver to your door: Kozmo, Webvan, Urbanfetch
- File-sharing site Audiogalaxy
- Tone-setting magazines: Feed, Suck
- Internet TV network Pseudo
- Foursquare-predecessor Dodgeball
- Social network Six Degrees
- Online, text-based multiplayer games known as MUDs and MUSHs
- Voyeurism feeding teen girl site JenniCam
- Online currency play Beenz
- Web host Geocities
- Prodigy
- The Internet Yellow Pages