Screenshot of Info-Mac as of 2011-03-11. |
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| URL | http://www.info-mac.org/ |
|---|---|
| Slogan | The original online Mac user community. |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Forum, news aggregator, and file hosting service for Macintosh and iOS. |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Dan Palka |
| Created by | Ed Pattermann |
| Launched | 1984 |
| Current status | Open |
Info-Mac is an online community, news aggregator and shareware file hosting service covering Apple Inc. products, including the iPhone, iPod and especially the Macintosh. Established in 1984 as an electronic mailing list, Info-Mac is notable as being the first online community for Apple's then-new Macintosh computer.[1] Info-Mac was the dominant Internet resource for Mac OS software[2] and community-based support throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Contents |
Info-Mac consisted of two distinct services: the Info-Mac Archive, a user-submitted collection of nearly all contemporary freeware and shareware available for the Macintosh, and the Info-Mac Digest, an electronic mailing list open to public participation.[3] Both the Info-Mac Archive and Info-Mac Digest were operated by volunteers.[4]
The Info-Mac Digest was published daily via Stanford University servers, and was itself archived on the Info-Mac Archive.[5] At its height, the Info-Mac Digest was read daily by several thousand people, and was mirrored in the Usenet group comp.sys.mac.digest.
The Info-Mac Digest was published in "volumes" that covered the period of one calendar year, with some exceptions.
The Info-Mac Archive was the centralized collection of Macintosh software with over 100 mirror sites located around the world. At the time, disk space on a server was cost-prohibitive. Free archives such as Info-Mac were often the only means for shareware authors to deliver their product over the Internet. Some early commercial software download sites, like CNET's Shareware.com, were originally mirrors of the Info-Mac Archive.[6]
Due to the low bandwidth common of early Internet users, Info-Mac also partnered with Pacific HiTech to periodically publish CD-ROMs containing selected shareware and freeware from the archive, to be sold through Mac-related magazines and publications.[7] This allowed wider distribution to users who could not spare the long download times associated with software applications. Starting with the Info-Mac VI CD-ROM, the discs included the utility "Spelunker" which allowed users to search the archive in a user-friendly manner. Starting with the Info-Mac VIII CD-ROM, the package included two discs to offer twice the shareware and freeware.
The popularity of Info-Mac services in their original format waned in the early 2000s. Unable to maintain relevance on the rapidly evolving Internet, the Info-Mac Digest was discontinued in November 2002, while the Info-Mac Archive stopped accepting new file submissions in December 2005.
In December 2007, Info-Mac was redesigned and relaunched with a Web 2.0 interface, combining previous Info-Mac Digest and Info-Mac Archive content with a modernized forum-based community and news aggregator.[8] Today, Info-Mac has expanded to cover all Apple product lines. A new, opt in Info-Mac Digest automatically generated from forum content is published daily. Info-Mac also distributes an iOS app called iForum on the App Store.