Google can pull up [a version of their search index from as far back as January 2001](http://www.google.com/search2001.html). From an IT point of view, this is pretty amazing. They make it clear [it’s not an exact version](http://www.google.com/search2001faq.html), but that they can do it _at all_ is impressive.
Could your company pull up a backup of **anything** from seven years ago? Let alone make it functional in the same context it once was? I surprise people whenever they learn I keep emails for as long as I do.
Anyone who didn’t believe they are keeping a [Time Machine-esque](http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html) index of every version of any page ever crawled should be convinced now. Just like a lot of folks [want BackRub](http://battellemedia.com/archives/004563.php), I bet a lot of folks would love access to a searchable and far more comprehensive internet archive than the, well, [_actual_ Internet Archive](http://www.archive.org/web/web.php).
Things I’ve learned about my sites from playing around with this?
* I did not rank quite as well as I remember ranking.
* I abused duplicate title tags, a lot.
* My general design style has evolved but is still recognizable (probably a bad thing!).
* I was reminded of some of our old domains and the odd subdirectory structure of the different web projects.
