Elliott C. Back: <3 Wendy Bug

Google X Pulled, Archived & Mirrored

Posted in Google by Elliott Back on March 16th, 2005.

Since Google just pulled their new Google X product and the forums are ablaze, I’m posting a screenshot at full resolution, as well as the archived mirror of the code and a live frontpage demo:

Google X (AJAX) Homepage

A zip archive of the Google X homepage can be found here (~90kb). Here is the announcement from their blog, in case it goes down too:

Today is an amazing day: A small idea - a fun late-night coding jaunt to help me learn Javascript & DHTML - has just launched on Google Labs. I never expected it to make it as far as it has when I wrote it a month ago, especially since my “real” job is working on Keyhole, where I’m having the time of my life taking our cool 3D mapping application and putting the power of Google behind it. It’s fulfilling to have the opportunity to reach the audience we always dreamed of when we started Keyhole five years ago, and that by itself is absolute coolness.

And now there’s Google X, which came about because I wanted a quick fun way to access all of Google’s services. I gave it to a few friends in the company, who gave it to their friends, some posted it on their blogs, others sent it around on mailing lists, and it eventually made its way to Marissa Mayer, who liked it enough to say, when do you want to put it up on Labs? So after some spit and polish from some enthusiastic Googlers and the keen eye of the UI team, Google X is here. I hope all of you enjoy it - especially Mac users, who I’m sure will appreciate its lineage.

Chikai Ohazama
Software Engineer

Posted @ 4:40 PM / Permanent Link

Just to let people know, I’m sending a bunch of trackback to optimistic and excited Google X blogs posts, for notification and to point them to this archive.

Update #1:

The mainstream media have picked up the story:

  • http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/17/google_x_files_disappear/
  • http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1777017,00.asp
  • http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/03/16/googlex/index.php
  • http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5621247.html
  • http://slashdot.org/articles/05/03/17/0149248.shtml?tid=217&tid=1
  • http://news.com.com/Googles+X+files+vanish/2100-1032_3-5621247.html

Update #2:

Here’s a live version of Google X displayed like the day it was pulled. The effect is pretty cool–I am not sure why anyone would want to take it down.

Update #3:

The Google Media Hotline (+1.650.930.3555) didn’t answer the telephone, so I left them a message. You can find the Google media contacts posted on their website. They just got back to me: “Thank you for your interest in Google, but unfortunately, we’re not providing comment.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2005 at 9:58 pm and is tagged with google labs, frontpage demo, marissa mayer, theregister, google, ui team, 3d mapping, mapping application, googlers, mainstream media, software engineer, amazing day, keen eye, zip archive, time of my life, keyhole, macworld, x files, mac users, coolness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

84 Responses to “Google X Pulled, Archived & Mirrored”

  1. Milly says:

    Thank you, it’s cool to see what the homage looked like.

  2. ceejayoz says:

    Thanks, I was hoping someone’d have it archived - very nifty, I wanted to see how they did it. Again, much appreciated!

  3. amit agarwal says:

    Hey man - thanks for the archive.

    So much needed

  4. Neil T. says:

    Again, thanks for archiving :) . Would be interesting to find out why it was pulled.

  5. Many thanks for that - the DHTML will be especially interesting to play around with. :)

  6. ronn says:

    Thanks for archiving. I desparately want to know why it was pulled.

  7. Elliott Back says:

    I’m curious too as to why they pulled it: I imagine it can *only* have something to do with Apple.

  8. dotDrivel says:

    If You Missed Google X…
    If you missed Google X before it went defunct…

  9. Thanks for the archive Elliott - I found your link through my comments. I had a chance to check out Google X on their live site before it was pulled.

    Fun interface, but I’d rather use their text tabs. Guess I need more Mac exposure.

  10. Google X
    Google has a new toy up at the labs - Google X.

    Mac OS X style navigation on top of a search input field.

    Update: Google has pulled this down. (03/17/2005) Elliot has an archive of the site….

  11. Adam says:

    Has anyone un-obsfucated this code yet? I’m working on it, and it’s a bear as I’m not a javascript guy, but I love the effect, so I’m trying. If anyone gets this reconstituted into legible code, post a link! :)

  12. david says:

    yea.. thankz a bunch for caching it up for us.
    hope google isnt sued or threatened for GoogleX..!!

  13. If you’re interested, I did my own implementation of the grow/shrink mouseover effects:

    http://www.nsftools.com/tips/ImageResize.htm

    As the others said, thanks for posting the archived code.

  14. amit agarwal says:

    Julian, I liked your implementation - easy to understand code.

    I might add it here http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/03/google-plays-hide-n-seek.html

  15. Evilpig says:

    I also added 6 or 7 languages : http://google-labs.tk

  16. @Julian, nice work! The effect looks pretty nice, and you have some good explanation there. For those who hate jscript (like myself), this will be quite useful.

    @Evilpig, both of the URLs there seem to be down…

    Oddly enough, people in France are getting letters from Google. See http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=40351#post40351 for more information!

  17. ceejayoz says:

    John, that makes the other stuff on the page jump around, unlike Google’s original version… and I’m not really sure what you’ve added other than a Gmail link. Correct me if I’m wrong?

  18. John says:

    I am not sure what you mean when you say “jump around”. I just created a different version with my interpretation of what I would like to see.

    I added the Gmail link along with each individual page having the Google X dock at the top. Compare my rendition to the original at http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/google-x/googlex.htm. When you clink on an object, it takes you to the Google page (which does not intergret with Google X).

    Let me know any other thoughts!

  19. Jay says:

    I’ve created a useful version with Google Suggest, GMail notifier, most searches in Google X mode (like John Fogleman’s but with DHTML), true OS X dock animation, GMail button and login, Google X Logo, Background.
    The source code is downloadable.

    http://googlex.jayssite.com/

  20. John says:

    Hello ceejayoz,

    I did realize where the site was jumping. I was using Opera and it was fine. I have updated the code with Jay’s script.

  21. Seems like people are having fun producing some interesting derivatives! I might use this “effect” in my new blog design–whenever I get around to upgrading, that is.

  22. ceejayoz says:

    John - much better! :-)

  23. Phil says:

    It baffles me why anyone would imitate the biggest usability disaster in the history of Mac OS. The Dock (and I am an OSX user, before anyone slaughters me) is patently inefficient as a primary launcher… I have more apps than would fit into it before going microscopic, so I dropped them all into a Menu folder, shoved it in the right of the dock, and use that for launching everything.

  24. ceejayoz says:

    As a very recent switcher, I’ve gotta disagree with the “usability disaster” assessment.

    I certainly find it more useful than Windows’s Start Menu, especially when coupled with the wonderful app QuickSilver. I use the Dock for my most common apps - FTP, text editor, Terminal, Firefox, etc. - and QuickSilver to launch the rest with a quick Control+Space.

  25. Maneesh Pangasa says:

    Frankly, I love the Mac OS X Dock (and liked the ObjectDock for Windows before I switched from PC to Mac) and thought Google X was really cool.

    I am trying to start a petition at Petition Online.com see the following site if interested:

    http://www.PetitionOnline.com/122112/petition.html

    I have also made a Google Group at: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Google-X-Pulled-Why

    Hopefully, an awareness can be made to Google that this was a good service and they should re-continue it.

  26. Maneesh Pangasa says:

    Re: Phil Says

    If you don’t like using the Dock that much or need a better application launcher reclaim customization of the Apple Menu that’s the menu with the ? MENU at the top of the desktop by purchasing a cheap and efficient customization tool like Unsanity.com’s Fruit Menu = $10 which you can use to customize Mac OS X contextual menus too.

    If you absolutely do not like the Dock and want it to dissappear and just use the ? MENU what you can then do is select the feature Automatically Hide The Dock (in Dock Menu options via the ? MENU or System Preferences + Dock Preferences) which will make it dissappear and automatically reappear when you move your mouse to the bottom of the desktop.

    For more on Fruit menu you can visit:
    http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/fruitmenu

  27. Maneesh Pangasa says:

    For more info on Object Dock for Windows (which is freeware) please visit: http://www.objectdock.com. Object Dock Plus which adds even more features is $29.95.

  28. [...] this is the second time recently that Google drew something offline. A couple months ago, Google X got slashed, too. Here’s the cop out on their web [...]

  29. Roger Feecal says:

    This is great - Googlisms are the googlistic epitomies of fun

  30. Josh says:

    I have a mirror of GoogleX on my site as well, GoogleX. :)

    It has been up since like the day Google took it down.

    Josh

  31. Bill Norton says:

    Pretty neat - not sure if this truly is a vision into the great Google OS in the Sky. I would take the notes at face value that this was an experiment, and playful attempt to mimic the MAC OS X interface. I do see a future Google OS, one with Google Office bundled in and an optional subscription fee version with continously updated templates, engines, features, etc. I just don’t see the googleX code as a strategic or mistaken release of a google os future vision.

    I was curious how others have gone through trying to reverse engineer the code as I have…and if they have posted their reasonable variable and function name versions somewhere. It would be interesting to see if they came up with the same variable and function names as I did and there are still a couple math routines I don’t quite get yet.

  32. bobo says:

    Hey,

    Now you can have the googleX toolbar on the real google webpages thanks to greasemonkey. Take a look at the script that allows that at http://bobo12.ifrance.com

  33. Drew says:

    bobo,
    I lose the text input box on google with the greasemonkey script? The toolbar is there now, but no place to input search terms?
    delawaredrew@gmail.com

  34. ZoomMenu (GoogleX knockoff)

    A few months ago someone at google created something called GoogleX (the original was taken down: mirror…

  35. mjb says:

    Any idea how Yahoo does it? The image does not push anything else on the page.
    http://local.yahoo.com/results?fr=dd-local-more&stx=restaurants&csz=Boston%2C+MA

    mouseover the map image on the left

  36. houda says:

    bonjour , je suis egybtiene je taim beaucoup google

  37. Cooleon says:

    Hello, can you guys please try my modified version of GoogleX and tell me what you think of it?
    http://www.cooleon.us

  38. Pier... says:

    I’ve seen this site. If you want, you can try my personal Dock version.

    http://eudock.jules.it

    Thank You…

  39. [...] Cool google page with crazy rollovers http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/google-x/googlex.htm Original Cool imageresizing Agile Partners weblog 罈 iPhoto-like image resizing using Javascript [...]

  40. [...] Google’覺n Mart ay覺nda yay覺na sunduu fakat 1 g羹n sonra yay覺ndan kald覺r覺lan Google X, Google Arama Motoruna yeni bir aray羹z sal覺yordu. 1 g羹n sonra kald覺r覺lmas覺n覺n sebebi olarak aray羹z羹n Mac OS X’e benzemesi ve Apple’覺n bunu istememesi g繹steriliyor. Neyse ki internette bir癟ok insan bunu beenmi ve kopyas覺n覺 alm覺. 襤te bu adresten bir kopyay覺 da ben ald覺m ve T羹rk癟e’ye 癟evirerek sayfama ekledim. Denemek isterseniz [...]

  41. 2005 fashions prom shoes spring…

    2005 fashions prom shoes spring…

  42. Dreyer Media says:

    Really cool! Any news on wether this is legal to install on their site?

  43. [...] Kaynak: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/03/16/google-x-pulled/ Bu ileti 11 Mart, Pazar, 2007 tarihinde saat 15:54 de Web Siteleri kategorilerine g繹nderildi. Bu iletiye RSS Abone olabilirsiniz yada yorum yazabilirsiniz . [...]

  44. [...] Google X script - 瞍蝷 [...]

  45. Kanki S羹per Biey bu yaw. Sen yapt覺n galiba :) (Turkish)

    Good project (English)

    (:

  46. [...] Four mistakes last week, issues with Camino on Podfeet, adios to Flash players on Podfeet, OSX Summarize function, hdabob.com/WhatIsThatLeak.htm to learn about leaks. Google Part 14: Google X at theplaceforitall.com/googlex, and Elliot Back’s blog, and Google Mobile at mobile.google.com. Galerie from myriad-online.com, Bobo Galerie, Democracy from getdemocracy.com, Chocoflop again from chocoflop.com/, InstantShot! from projects.digitalwaters.net. [...]

  47. ajaxcss.com says:

    Google X effect script…

    Since Google just pulled their new Google X product and the forums are ablaze, Im posting a screenshot at full resolution, as well as the archived mirror of the code and a live frontpage demo…

  48. afiq says:

    arrgh!what a great effect!
    owh damn cool! Like a mac!!

  49. Ive seen this site

  50. [...] Here is a ZDNet article about the disapperance. If you missed it and want to see it - someone grabbed a screenshot before it disappeared. [...]

  51. [...] As of wikipedia Google X was a project released by Google Labs on March 15, 2005 and rescinded a day later. It consisted of the traditional Google search bar, but it was made to look like the Dockuser interface feature of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system .The rumor is that it was pulled because of a threatened lawsuit by Apple. You can have a look of its look alike here with the details to be found in this blog.Now Google Korea seems to be gearing up to do some more experiments with Google X kind of format running online or might be I am little late in finding with what every one already knows. Whatever be the reason, here goes the Google Korea link which is exactly like Google X! [...]

  52. evsion says:

    Is the code still available?

  53. jest staffel says:

    there is also a large and comprehensive database of 500+ ajax scripts available with over at ajaxflakes’s ajax scripts compound

    thought i should add it might be helpful to others…

  54. [...] |Enlace: Google X Pulled, Archived & Mirrored [...]

  55. silvio says:

    where I can download the source codes ?

  56. [...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt [...]

  57. [...] Eer sizde benim gibi kod yazmas覺n覺 ve program haz覺rlamas覺n覺 bilmiyorsan覺z, haz覺r kod veren ve program haz覺rlayan web sitelerinin esiri olursunuz. Eer bu kod olay覺n覺 yazma iini bir de bedava yap覺yorsa o sitenin tad覺na var覺lmaz Konumuz olan ajax ile ilgili programlama yapan ve haz覺r kod 羹reten s羹per bir servis var. Blog sitenize yarayacak bir癟ok k羹癟羹k ajax programlar 羹retip da覺t覺yor. Sitede kodlar覺 bedava da覺t覺lan ajax uygulamalar覺 unlar; Ajax Protopiype window Web sitenizde html ve java benzer oto veya t覺klamayla bilgi pop-up pencereleri a癟ma. Ajax star rating bar Web sitenizdeki sayfalara puan (y覺ld覺z) verilmesini ve beenilme oran覺n覺 繹l癟ebilmeniz i癟in. Ajax contact form Web siteniz i癟in iletiim formu. Formu doldurunca sadece form y羹kleniyoe sayfan覺z deimiyor. “demo” Heatmap for your website Web sitenizin hit alan linklerini g繹rebilme eysi. “kaynak” Ajax GreyBox Baka bir java script ile haz覺rlanm覺 ajax pop-up penceresi. Google, yahoo, koders arama sitelerini a癟覺yor. Digg like spy scrip Mehur digg benzeri site hareketlerini g繹sterem g羹zel bir ajax. “demo” Bubble Tooltips Mause imleci ile linklere a癟覺klamalar yazman覺z ve g繹stereniz i癟in haz覺rlanm覺 g羹zel bir script. “demo” Reflection.js.1.7 Ajax ile resimleri yans覺t覺n. Ayr覺ca bir resim program覺 bilmenize gerek olmadan resimlerinize reflekt繹r efekti vererek yans覺t覺n. Edit in Bu ajax kodlar覺 haz覺rlanm覺 sitedeki yaz覺lar覺 ziyaret癟iler tekrardan editleyebiliyor. “demo” Tabs Content 2.0 Tab scrip tek pencereden birdn fazla link ve mesaj yay覺nlaman覺z覺 sal覺yor ajax tarz覺 dhtml kod. “demo” Drageble RSS boxes Haz覺rlad覺n覺z sitenin rss takipleri varsa 癟er癟eveleyip mause ile kullan覺c覺lar yerini deitirebiliyor. “demo” Ajax poller script Ajax ile haz覺rlanm覺 bir baka anket scripti. “demo” Dragable content script Yine kullan覺c覺lar覺 yerini deitirebildikleri table’lar. “demo” Lightbox dialog Ajax ile haz覺rlanm覺 mehur lightbox efektinin “login ve sign up” g繹rseli. Fisheye using 1.0 Mac g繹r羹n羹ml羹 muhteem men羹ler. “demo” Google x script Google arama motoru ve dier ara癟lar覺n覺 yer ald覺覺 g羹zel bir script. “demo” Ajax load imajlar覺 Ajax uygulamalar覺nda hareketli bekleyiniz komutunu temsil eden haketli resimler 羹retkeci bir servis. Dier ajax siteleri ve 繹rnekleri bu sitede ingilizce derlenmi. Eer ajax tavsiyelerini beendiyeseniz ve devam覺n覺 istiyorsan覺z aa覺daki diyalog kutusuna yorum yazabilirsiniz. [...]

  58. [...] For folks, who did not see the GoogleX page, it is mirrored here, here or here. Elliott Back has gone a step further - he has posted a screenshot and zip archive (~90kb)of the Google X homepage. At the time of writing this post, GoogleX homepage was in the Google’s Cache but without any images. This is G o o g l e’s cache of http://labs.google.com/googlex/ as retrieved on 16 Mar 2005 03:24:12 GMT. [...]

  59. youtubes says:

    [因 Cool google page with crazy rollovers elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/google-x/googlex.htm Original Cool imageresizing Agile Partners weblog 罈 iPhoto-like image resizing using Javascript [因

  60. youtubes says:

    thank u for giving this good information

  61. So where is the demo I mean?

  62. SyLaR says:

    First: my english is very poor because I織m from Argentina.

    I like very much for Google browser and I’m use like Google!

    Can you create a Spanish version?

    That version will have very Success becuase its design is very well and many people will use it.

    Tahnk you very much…

    Any news please contact me o publish in your blog ( I read your blog in my Google reader)

  63. [...] http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/03/16/google-x-pulled/ Just to let people know, Im sending a bunch of trackback to optimistic and excited Google X blogs posts, for notification and to point them to this archive. (tags: Adsense Ajax CSS JavaScript Templates wordpress) [...]

  64. wayne says:

    nico to see zhe article!!
    I’m a Chinese student,my dream is access to google company

  65. Mukti Barker says:

    Wow…really great article.

    and really huge thankz to share this good information.

  66. [...] Dojo Tool Kit hat eine neue web-basierte Non-Flash-Men羹, das einfach zu benutzen ist. [...]

  67. Emrah says:

    Very nice. thnx

  68. Thanks for archiving. I desparately want to know why it was pulled

  69. [...] By Rodolfo Belentani J imaginou se o Google fosse comprado pela Ma誽? O programador Elliot Back pode nos ajudar a ter uma id嶯a de como [...]

  70. Jonee says:

    OMG! I search for all internet for this! You are a genius!!

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