Technology became obsolete

31 projects

i-mode The world's first mass-market mobile internet, launched in Japan in 1999 with 176 tiny pictures that became emoji, switched off in March 2026 1999–2026 Online Services AOL Dial-Up The modem noise stopped, AOL did not 1991–2025 Online Services MiniDisc Sony's recordable disc for the Walkman age, outlived by the iPod and its own fans 1992–2025 Storage & Media Formats Windows CE Microsoft's small Windows for handhelds, set-top boxes and cash registers, alive from Comdex 1996 to a quiet end of support in 2023 1996–2023 Operating Systems Internet Explorer The browser that won the war and lost the peace 1995–2022 Web Browsers iPod 1,000 songs in your pocket 2001–2022 Gadgets & Hardware Google Toolbar The search box in the browser, with the PageRank meter, from Internet Explorer 5 to a quiet death in 2021 2000–2021 Web Technologies & Tools Microsoft Silverlight The Flash rival that outlived its purpose 2007–2021 Web Technologies & Tools Microsoft Edge Legacy Microsoft's fresh start that lasted one engine 2015–2021 Web Browsers Adobe Flash The plugin that animated the web 1996–2020 Web Technologies & Tools Google Cloud Print Print from anything to any printer over the internet: ten years in beta, then switched off at the end of 2020 2010–2020 Online Services Samsung Gear VR The Oculus-powered headset you snapped a Galaxy into, retired when standalone VR arrived 2014–2020 VR & AR Amazon Dash Button A $4.99 button that ordered detergent, launched on the eve of April Fools' Day 2015–2019 Gadgets & Hardware DMOZ The web, catalogued by hand 1998–2017 Search Engines & Directories Windows Live Mail The free desktop mail program that replaced Outlook Express, cut off from Outlook.com in 2016 and left to die in 2017 2007–2017 Email & Groups Windows Live Writer The blog editor bloggers loved, from Onfolio to Windows Essentials 2012, abandoned by Microsoft and rescued as open source 2006–2017 Desktop Software Windows Media Center The living-room PC that arrived before streaming 2002–2015 Media Players GameSpy The middleware that ran multiplayer, then took it away 1996–2014 Game Platforms & Services Symbian Ran most of the world's smartphones, then burned with the platform 1998–2014 Operating Systems iGoogle Your homepage, back when you had one 2005–2013 Web Technologies & Tools MSN TV WebTV: the internet on your television through a set-top box, bought by Microsoft in 1997, switched off in 2013 1996–2013 Online Services Google Gears Made the web work offline, then handed the idea to HTML5 2007–2011 Developer Tools Google Desktop Google search for your own hard drive, plus a sidebar of gadgets, retired when the cloud made it pointless 2004–2011 Desktop Software Floppy disk Forty years of the disk everyone saved to, from the IBM 8-inch to the last 3.5-inch Sony boxes in 2011 1971–2011 Storage & Media Formats Microsoft Works The cheap office suite that came with the PC, from a 1986 Macintosh program to Works 9, replaced by Office Starter 1986–2010 Desktop Software CompuServe The internet before the internet 1979–2009 Online Services Palm OS The organiser in your pocket that taught phones to be computers 1996–2009 Operating Systems Microsoft FrontPage The web editor that built a generation of home pages, bought from Vermeer in 1996 and retired in 2006 1995–2006 Desktop Software Iomega Zip drive 100 megabytes on a fat floppy, and the Click of Death 1995–2003 Storage & Media Formats GEnie General Electric's text-only online service, home of the RoundTables and the first big multiplayer games, sold twice and switched off for the year 2000 1985–1999 Online Services Sega Channel Genesis games over cable TV, $15 a month, in 1994 1994–1998 Game Platforms & Services