When a web-site has been running since 1996¹ you would expect it to have enjoyed some evolution, with the odd redesign thrown in along the way. The web-site at apple.com is one such site. Flickr user Kernel Panic maintains a gallery of screen captures of Apple’s home page and it represents an interesting journey through the history of the company. It’s amazing to me that the basic design of apple.com as it stands today is the same as it was in 1998 — how’s that for consistency?

But what would Apple’s home page have looked like in the years prior to 1996? Sadly we never got to see an apple.com home page for the launch of the Apple I, Apple II, Lisa, Macintosh or MessagePad… until today! Dave Lawrence of Newton Poetry fame posted a couple of mock-up apple.com home pages for the Lisa and MessagePad machines on his weblog and Matt Pearce answered Lawrence’s call for others to add to the meme. Between them, they’ve come up with a few beautifully crafted and clever images of the home pages that might have been.
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 My Apple MessagePad 2100 has arrived in England. The postman will soon be knocking!

In a few short days I’ll take delivery of a remarkably sophisticated piece of equipment and a little bit of computing history to boot.

I’ve just bought an Apple Newton MessagePad 2100. I have wanted to have one of these computers since they were first introduced over a decade ago and soon, thanks to the Gods of eBay, I will finally have a chance to play with one.

Naturally I’m going to try to get the 2100 to talk to my PowerMac G5. I’ll play with its handwriting recognition and I’m looking forward to testing its connectivity. If I can use it to access the Internet in the field then I’ll be over-the-moon.

I can hardly contain my excitement!

More to follow upon delivery…