When is Google's birthday? 17th anniversary doodle recalls 'humble beginnings'

There was a beautiful array of autumnal vegetables for the Google doodle marking the change of the season, and a rugby player looking suspiciously like an American footballer for the start of the Rugby World Cup. But to mark its 17th anniversary, Google has gone for a retro commemorative doodle, referencing a simpler era when Larry Page and Sergey Brin could leave a doodle of a stick man to tell users that they were out of office at the Burning Man Festival. Google has celebrated its anniversary with a doodle every year since its fourth in 2002, and has at times sparked controversy: in 2014, the company used a rainbow-coloured doodle to mark the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics, declaring where it stood on Russia’s gay rights record. The 17th anniversary Doodle – which appeared in almost every country in the world excluding the US – features a chunky plastic PC, lava lamp and the 1998 “Google!” logo, encouraging users to wish the company many happy returns on the day. Writing about the doodle, the creators said: “For our 17th birthday, we offer a glimpse into our humble beginnings, when branded hockey jerseys were cool and Savage Garden had a number-one single.” Alongside pictures of a server made out of toy building blocks and Google’s first office “also known as Larry and Sergey’s Stanford dorm rooms”, the company has also reminded users of its first homepage, which it points out “worked better than it looked”. Google has admitted in the past that it is not sure of the exact date of its birthday, but September 1998 was the month that it was incorporated after investor Andy Bechtolsheim had written out a check to Google for $100,000, a year after the google.com domain was registered. Google is now the fourth biggest company in the world in terms of market value and employs 57,000 people in 70 offices in more than 40 countries.