MacCentral

MacCentral was a web site that provided news and information covering the Apple Macintosh, originally as an independent entity and later as the news service for Mac Publishing Web sites, including [http://www.macworld.com/ Macworld.com] and [http://playlistmag.com/ Playlist] , before being subsumed by Macworld's own brand.

MacCentral was founded by Canadian businessman Stan Flack and James Dalrymple as Associate Editor in 1994 [http://www.macworld.com/article/132981/2008/04/stan_flack.html Dalrymple, Jim. "Stan Flack, MacCentral and MacMinute founder, passes away"] 2008-4-14. Retrieved on April 16, 2008] . In 1998, MacCentral Online acquired MacGaming. MacCentral Online was purchased by Mac Publishing in 1999. In March 2001, Macworld folded the trade-focused MacWEEK into MacCentral [http://db.tidbits.com/article/6325 Engst, Adam C. "MacWEEK to Roll into MacCentral", "TidBITS",] 2001-5-9. Retrieved April 19, 2008.] Eventually, MacCentral was folded into the "Macworld" brand over a period of several years.

Abbreviated MacCentral Chronology

* September 4, 1995 Stan Flack publishes the first monthly issue of MacCentral using DOCMaker. [ [http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=3245 Robertson, Tim, "MyMac", "Stan Flack"] 2008-4-15, retrieved April 20, 2008 ]
* June 1999 Mac Publishing, LLC, the publisher of Macworld magazine and Macworld Online, purchases MacCentral Online. [ [http://db.tidbits.com/article/5425 Duncan, Geoff. "Mac Publishing Buys MacCentral"] , "TidBITS", 1999-6-7. Retrieved on April 19, 2008] [ [http://www.macobserver.com/news/99/june/990602/maccentralbought.html "MacCentral Assimilated By Ziff-Davis/IDG Owned Mac Publishing"] , "The Mac Observer", 1999-06-02. Retrieved April 19, 2008.]
* February 2001 In a move to assert the dominance of the Macworld brand among its brands including MacCentral.com and MacWEEK.com, Mac Publishing redirects Maccentral.com traffic to a subdomain of Macworld.com. [ [http://www.macobserver.com/article/2001/03/02.13.shtml " Chaffin, Bryan. "The Mac Observer." "Mac Publishing Drops MacWeek, Moves MacCentral.com To Macworld.com"] , 2001-03-02, retrieved April 19, 2008.]
* May 9, 2001 Stan Flack leaves MacCentral to publish MacMinute News on a new web site. [ [http://www.macminute.com/2001/05/9/ Opening Day at MacMinute] , "MacMinute News", May 9, 2001. Retrieved on December 18, 2007]
* April 14, 2008, Stan Flack, MacCentral founder, passes away at his home on Prince Edward Island.

MacCentral Forum

Despite the rebranding of MacCentral, a cadre of loyal readers continued to maintain a presence in the MacCentral Forum, a community that remained in operation without being prominently linked to from anywhere on Macworld's primary site. Those forums were shut down in 2008, with many of the forum members relocating to the MacMinute [http://www.macminute.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/wwwthreads.pl?Cat=&C=1| Café forum] . And then, with the shutting down of the MacMinute forums in May 2008 the majority of forum members moved to [http://maccentralcafe.com/forums/ MacCentral Cafe] .

MacCentral Forum Chronology

* January 31, 1998 MacCentral Reader Forum opened. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/19980201030632/http://maccentral.com/ Internet Archive Wayback Machine] 1998-1-31, Retrieved April 20, 2008]
* March 26, 2002 Beginning of what becomes the [http://www.afterglow.ie/mosaic2002.html Forum 2002 Mosaic Project] . This community project culminates with posters and signed canvases being sold at Macworld Expo. MacCentral Forum members elect to give the proceeds to United Cerebral Palsy. [ [http://www.macobserver.com/article/2002/07/10.6.shtml Chaffin, Bryan. "The Mac Observer." "MacCentral Mosaic Project and more."] 2002-7-10, retrieved April 19, 2008] ] [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_July_1/ai_88090464 Editors, "BNET", "35 Mac Users From Around the World Make Art to Make a Difference at Macworld Conference & Expo; Stunning Mosaic Created by Shared Pixels, Imagination and Mac Software"] , 2002-7-1, retrieved April 19, 2008] [ [http://www.macworld.com/article/5669/2002/07/mosaic.html/news Dalrymple, Jim. "MacCentral Mosaic auction coming to Macworld Expo."] 2002-7-1, retrieved April 19, 2008]
* January 16, 2003 Beginning of the thread to create [http://homepage.mac.com/dreed2/Sites/mosaic/index.html MacCentral Forum Mosaic 2003] . [ [http://workwithpete.com/?p=40 Mrsich, Pete, "Work With Pete", MacCentral Mosaic] 2007-10-29, Retrieved April 19, 2008]
* August 8, 2003 Beginning of the thread to create [http://mbcf.dfci.harvard.edu/666/mosaic2004.jpgMacCentral Forum 2004 Mosaic] ( [http://155.52.95.150/666/crib.jpgname map for mosaic] ).
* December 14, 2007 Forums integrated into the Macworld website as [http://forums.macworld.com/community/macchat/maccentral MacCentral Alumni] .
* January 3, 2008 Forums changed to read only.
* March 3, 2008 Forum database made inaccessible by Macworld.

References