I remember people using Yahoo and AltaVista a lot. And before gmail everyone had a yahoo email (if they didn't already have a hotmail). Times change, kings fall from grace.

Google has been the dominant force for about 80% of the internet’s existence. I understand things come and go, but Google is incredibly unique. Their importance cannot be overstated

Yes but they were mainly a force of evil. Despite their old motto. They made the internet everything it is today, a hellscape of tracking, advertising and other monetisation.

None of this is an endorsement of the company - I am almost done de-googling my life. They are terrible.

It doesn’t change the fact that they literally impacted the trajectory of how the internet developed in a very obvious, concrete way.