Adam Engst, TidBits Publisher, announced on Tuesday that the venerable Info-Mac Network is closing down. Info-Mac has the distinction of being the oldest mac related service on the Internet. Mr. Engst, who is also Info-Mac’s volunteer president, said the network has outlived its utility, and is no longer worth the time and money it takes to keep the system running.
The Info-Mac servers will continue to run for the next few months, but there will not be any updates or maintenance, allowing people time to download any files or archives they are interested in.
Info-Mac, which started back in June of 1984, ran as a two-part service: Info-Mac Digest, a moderated mailing list covering any Mac related topic, and Info-Mac Archive, a storage and distribution system for Mac related files and applications. In essence, it was an online Mac USer Group.
As the Internet has evolved, the need for the Info-Mac Digest has been replaced by thousands of specialized email lists and web-based forums, something that didn’t exist when Info-Mac started. The Info-Mac Archive has been replaced with Web sites like VersionTracker and MacUpdate.
The Info-Mac Network was an important part of the Mac community since the 1980’s, and it will be missed. A special thanks to Adam and Tanya Engst, along with the all-volunteer staff that has supported and maintained the organization over the past 20-plus years.