Web Masters

Steve Madere shares the story of building Deja, the Usenet archive and search engine that became Google Groups.

Show Notes

Most people can’t imagine a form of the Internet that doesn’t involve the World Wide Web. In fact, the World Wide Web and the Internet are so deeply entwined that the majority of users don’t even realize there’s a difference. But that’s only because the World Wide Web was the winning technology. In the early days of the Web – i.e. the early 1990s – it was competing with other, similar technologies. In fact, some of those other technologies were significantly more popular.

The most popular of those competitive technologies was called Usenet. And, just like the Web, Usenet users needed a way to search. That's why Steve Madere built Deja. Deja was the search engine for Usenet, and had things gone a little different in Internet history, we might have been talking about "deja-ing" to find what we need instead of "googling."

In this episode of Web Masters, you'll hear the story of how Steve built Deja and how it could have been as impactful as Google.

For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.

What is Web Masters?

Web Masters is an original podcast that explores the history of the Internet through the stories of some of its most important innovators. In each episode, host Aaron Dinin, a serial entrepreneur and digital media scholar, talks with Internet entrepreneurs who created important websites, tools, services, and features. Some are hugely popular, some you’ve never heard of, and all of them have impacted everything you do online. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how the Internet has enabled -- and continues to create -- some of the greatest business opportunities in history from the people who have proven they know how to build successful Internet businesses.