I was on Novell's Services Operations team in the mid '90s overseeing our forum transition from CompuServe to the NNTP branch of the Internet.  Our team took care of all the supporting roles in the services organization.   Our manager hired two guys to help get us on this newfangled thing called "The World Wide Web".  After a time, our brand spanking new Novell web site finally went live.   I remember these guys putting tape up around their cubicles the day before with DO NOT DISTURB signs hanging from it as they were heads down in this new stuff called HTML coding.

We've come a long way from then but, to me, it doesn't seem that long ago.  The ownership of our various web properties now falls under the mantle of the marketing organization, with a world wide team of experts, and there are many more nuances to web design, SEO, lead generation, etc. than was ever thought of back in those early days.

Take a journey with me back in time.   Take a look at some things that may jog some memories as it has for me.  Please keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times for the duration of the ride:

The Novell web site in 1996: http://web.archive.org/web/19961022175108/http://www.novell.com/

The Novell web site in 2001: http://web.archive.org/web/20010831103138/http://www.novell.com/

The SUSE web site in 1996: http://web.archive.org/web/19961226120930/http://suse.com/

The SUSE web site in 1997:  http://web.archive.org/web/19970709042628/http://www.suse.com/

The SUSE web site in 2001: http://web.archive.org/web/20010417153901/http://www.suse.com/

The NetIQ web site in 1996: http://web.archive.org/web/19980202011118/http://www.netiq.com/

The NetIQ web site in 2001:http://web.archive.org/web/20010301082545/http://www.netiq.com/

The Micro Focus web site in 1997: http://web.archive.org/web/19970127013446/http://www.microfocus.com/

The Micro Focus web site in 2001: http://web.archive.org/web/20010617152652/http://www.merant.com/products/microfocus/

And now for a shocker, the Google web site in 1998: http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/ which you can contrast to what it is now.   Obviously, they haven’t been dedicating a lot of resources from web design since they first came online. :-)

We now return you to the ever so complicated present.  I hope you've enjoyed the ride along with me.