google and yahoo over the years

I had forgotten that Yahoo! came first. As you can see from the thumbnail, in 1996 Yahoo! looked not so much different from Google. And then in 1997 the once familiar two-column approach emerged. Around 2000 everything got terribly complex. Meanwhile, in 2000 Google emerged from Beta with an uncharacteristically complex masthead that announced opportunities to join Google, at which time some talented engineering folks really did "get lucky" I guess.From 2000 onward, Google declared themselves as the simplicity-themed search engine and they've managed to maintain their position by literally keeping it simple.
Maeda's SIMPLICITY: Yahoogle! a visual timeline