Comment by NikkiA

96-98 really, google rapidly ate their lunch after launching in the back end of '98.

I'll grant I remember still occasionally using altavista in 99, but google had very much become my primary search by then, and the same was true for pretty much everyone I knew.

I have a vague recollection of compaq closing it down shortly after buying it, then reopening it after some outcry - coinciding with it changing URLs from being the subdomain off digital.com.

Of course, Lycos, inktomi and others were all vying for attention around then too.