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| Author | What System 7 / Mac Newsletter did you read? (Read 22679 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: July 28, 2021, 09:32
Given System 7 had its heyday before the widespread use of the Internet, I remember how we used to read "electronic newsletters". They used to be supplied as e.g. DOCMaker documents to be read on our Macs and contained everything, from news information, helpful and less helpful tips & tricks and application + game reviews. Did anyone else read any? Unfortunately, during the 90's I had to overcome two hurdles - Germany wasn't a popular Macintosh market and English isn't my native language, thus I'd spend more time looking at the screenshots and checking my vocabulary book than actually reading the issues. (I am, however, reading them all now :-) ) The only ones I came across during the 90's were a few Inside Mac Games issues (probably the most well-known "electronic Mac newsletter") and MacSense. Inside Mac Games Arguably the most well-known one that contained everything the big magazines only spent 2 pages on - the latest Mac gaming related news, reviews and reports. Basically it started out of Tuncer Deniz home in 1993 and took the Mac community by storm. It went online-only sometime during 1999/2000 I think (?) and lives on as a forum, though after that move and Apple's Intel switch it lost its momentum. MacSense A high-class looking Macintosh user magazine from Canada, created by Chris McVeigh. It focused on the latest Mac news and product reviews and had professional quality. Initially distributed on paper, then using DocMaker and published electronically this one became very popular during the mid 90's and was a regular guest on bulletin boards and magazine CDs. It tried to commercialize in 1997 (subscription only distribution on CDs) but failed and died. What did you read back in the old days? Or do you still read them for your weekly shot of 90's nostalgia? What other electronic Mac / System 7 related newsletters come to mind? |
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Last Edit: July 28, 2021, 09:35 by Bolkonskij
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #1 on: July 28, 2021, 12:37
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National Home & School Mac With the advent of affordable Macs (LC / Classic) for home users, a new target audience for a Mac publication arose. MacWorld and MacUser magazine were always rather catering to the pro user and reviewed business software - Bob Nordling's Home & School Mac provided a dedicated magazine for the average home user. It was less technical than above publications and reviews focused on educational software & games and generally stuff the average home users would find helpful. An emphasis was put on promoting the shareware model, so mostly shareware games were reviewed and a lot of popular authors of that era were interviewed too. In case you're interested in the time trip back to the early 90's, all 18 issues can be downloaded from the Mac Garden: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/home-school-mac
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ovalking
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128 MB  Posts: 199
Reply #2 on: July 28, 2021, 15:10
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I gleaned most of my Mac knowledge from MacUser in the 80s and 90s as I we had it at work. Later I had MU and MacWorld at home. MW had good cover CDs, and I remember seeing newsletters on there, but don't recall Home & School Mac. I ceased my subscription in 2002. I wonder why that was...
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mac-cellar
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128 MB Posts: 176 Gotta love System 7
Reply #3 on: July 28, 2021, 22:23
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I remember Inside Mac Games, though I was not an avid reader. Most of my Mac-related news and information back in the day came from MacAddict and MacWorld. I still have a stack of MacAddict magazines and a big collection of their CDs.
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68040
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512 MB Posts: 950 68k - thy kingdom come, thy will be done !
Reply #4 on: November 27, 2021, 04:53
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I luv reading old Mac magazines, specially if I can recognize the layout tool they were designed with.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #5 on: December 30, 2021, 19:11
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RevUser Just discovered this e-zine. RevUser was a "home-grown" Mac e-zine created by software developer Joe Sewell during 1989 - 1991. It's all b&w created with DOCter and later issues with DOCmaker. He used a Mac SE with 4 MB to create all the issues, which can be downloaded from the Mac Garden: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/revuser This is really a fun read! Because it's the late 80's, an era in Mac computing that had relatively few coverage in terms of magazines. Reading his reviews on online services in 1989 (!) or early word processors really adds a new perspective. Joe wrote some good reviews and content (adding a developer's perspective, though he aims for the average user). Reading them on my IIci and it's big fun :-) P.S. all the content in this e-zine covers *only* 68k stuff ;-)
Last Edit: December 30, 2021, 19:14 by Bolkonskij
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #6 on: January 02, 2022, 10:40
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Found another one. Low End User Published between late '93 till the mid 90's, this was a freely distributed monthly DOCMaker newsletter by Dennis T. Cheung and Dr. Michael LaBossiere. It was only distributed digitally via AOL, GEnie and others. What set it apart from the latest & greatest publications is that it aimed specifically at low end Mac users in home & education. Dan Knight stated that it was his inspiration for starting lowendmac.com a few years later. The publication featured news & columns regarding the Mac market, specifically Apple's transition to PowerPC in 1994 and adressed it from the view of (low end) 68k users. It also had app reviews, a "soapbox" and a tips section. One cool section covered the latest bugs discovered. I couldn't find a source for download. I have 9 issues from an unknown origin but will upload them to the Mac Garden as I find time.
Last Edit: January 02, 2022, 10:45 by Bolkonskij
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #7 on: January 02, 2022, 22:27
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Pre-Internet I did get Mac mag subscriptions, but in school that's where as students, we had full access to Macs since they were everywhere, so it was more of an exploration of software others were using and sharing was a big thing, more organic. I ended up overseas and worked for a Mac retailer, so again, I was constantly on Macs, installing a myriad of software and actively interacting with other users for business and pleasure.  Once I returned to the U.S. it became more of keeping up my Mac magazines subscriptions and using Macs for IT and web and marketing consulting projects. I suppose I missed the entire Hotline and BBS scene, but I may have come across a few Mac DOCMaker e-zines in my AOL software-diving days since I used their service exclusively to get online until they opened up their email service to everyone for free and I could jump to a cheaper Earthlink and later on onto much faster broadband services.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #8 on: December 10, 2024, 18:18
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It's been some time since I've added to this thread but here comes another one I've recently run into: Hyper Lunacy A UK-based e-zine focussed on Hypercard. It came into existence toward the commercial end of Hypercard (circa year 2000) in an attempt to rally the existing community. Naturally, it was published as a polished Hypercard stack and contained some pretty neat articles on Hypercard programming. Here are two screenshots with examples: Click me for the 1st screen Click me for the 2nd screen It's pretty neat if you're interested into Hypercard. A pity I never took notice of its existence until recently. In case you'd like to take a peek, here is one issue I'm temporarily hosting.
Last Edit: December 10, 2024, 18:28 by Bolkonskij
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