Google offers a glimpse of the past

Google has made available its 2001 search index

Just how far have we come since the beginning of the millennium? Well, as everybody's favourite oracle of modern times, Google is helping us find out with a 2001 version of its search index.

'Search 1,326,920,000 web pages' the home page proudly exclaims. Also present is an exclamation mark after its name, perhaps suggesting that Google believed it needed to create clear blue water between itself and rival Yahoo.

Random searches reveal some interesting comparisons with the present. 'London Olympics' generated just 91,000 results in 2001, far short of the million-plus it does today.

Interestingly, a listing from BBC Sport reports then culture secretary Chris Smith expressing doubts about whether London's infrastructure could cope with hosting the Olympics. So not much change there.

All things 'green' were less popular in 2001 too, generating just 15.7 million results as opposed to 985 million today.

Current tech buzzword 'cloud computing' returned just 56,000 results, none of which was accurate, while 'virtualisation' brought up just 2,000.

But perhaps the most telling search term is 'Google' itself. The ubiquity of everybody's favourite search engine is clear to see from the huge 2.8 billion results it generates today. Back in 2001 it generated just 3.7 million results.