If you were clicking around a Windows XP machine in 2003 and saw that iconic butterfly logo with the rainbow swoosh, you weren’t just opening a browser. You were opening a portal .
For a generation of kids, the MSN butterfly was the front door to the internet. It was the sound of connecting to a friend on Messenger. It was the look of a perfectly organized digital dashboard before the chaos of social media arrived.
AOL had built a "walled garden"—a private, curated internet experience for paying subscribers. Microsoft wanted that turf.
If you were clicking around a Windows XP machine in 2003 and saw that iconic butterfly logo with the rainbow swoosh, you weren’t just opening a browser. You were opening a portal .
For a generation of kids, the MSN butterfly was the front door to the internet. It was the sound of connecting to a friend on Messenger. It was the look of a perfectly organized digital dashboard before the chaos of social media arrived.
AOL had built a "walled garden"—a private, curated internet experience for paying subscribers. Microsoft wanted that turf.