ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

AltaVista

Altavista was a website that you could use to search for other websites on the internet. Just like when you want to find a toy or a book, you ask your parents or a friend where you can find it, on the internet, you could ask Altavista where you could find what you are looking for.

Altavista was really popular a long time ago, before many people knew about Google. It was like a big library filled with lots and lots of books, but instead of books, it was websites that you could look at.

You could go to the Altavista website and type in what you were looking for, and then Altavista would show you a list of websites that matched what you were looking for. It was really helpful for finding things on the internet, just like a big map helps you find your way around a new place.

But now, Altavista is not as popular anymore, because different websites like Google and Bing have come along and are now more helpful for finding things on the internet.