Of all the countless websites that the internet has at its disposal, few have grown more useful or rabbit-hole-inducing than Wikipedia. Accessible in practically every language imaginable, the online encyclopedia grew from humble origins: an iMac from the dawn of this century. While there’ve been countless new renditions of Apple’s flagship desktop since 2000, Christie’s is auctioning off the Strawberry-colored model formerly owned by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia.
Ultimately coming to form in the onset of 2001, Wikipedia came about as a result of Wales and his peers seeking to curate an online encyclopedia that was well-versed and free of charge, initially dubbed ‘Nupedia.’ While what followed has become widely available to just about everyone, the website’s development is backed by a heartwrenching origin story. Wales had said that following the delivery of his newborn daughter, she required severe medical attention and was quickly transferred to intensive care, leading Wales to his computer desk to research the condition in-depth. As one could imagine, that computer desk housed this desktop and ultimately resulted in the conception of a now-archaic ‘wiki software’ package leading up to Wikipedia’s launch on January 15, 2001.
Serving as a mere example of never knowing what goes on behind the scenes of these tech giants’ lives, the story of Wikipedia’s development — by way of this historic iMac — is surely one to take into account. With the auction set to come to a halt on December 15th, web enthusiasts looking to get their hands on this unique piece of the past can put their bids in now.
