FAQs: Everything You Need To Know About Mac360.

Editor’s Note: Mac360 is nearing four years old. It’s a time to look forward and a time to reflect. The updated FAQs will help long time readers remember, and new readers to catch up.

Mac360 started as a whim, an idea, a fluke, a test, a silly thought that wouldn’t stop.

Add that to opportunity knocking and the next thing you know a bunch of us are up to our eyeballs in candy coated Mac reviews, commentary, and fun. Mostly.

Tera Jean Patricks was Mac360’s founding female, who, back in late 2003, decided she’d like to create her own web log-- a blog. It was all the rage in those days.

Her friend and fellow Macophile, Barbara Marie Brannan, known as Bambi to everyone shorter than her (hint: she’s taller than most), agreed that a blog about women in computing would be a unique opportunity to share a different perspective.

Their technocolleague, Ron McElfresh, who lives in sunny and expensive Hawaii, had established a small but lucrative content management business for web sites, and suggested that Tera look into the technology he was using.

Tera and Bambi”blogged” for a few months using a beta version of Expression Engine running on a sunflower iMac and OS X Panther Server which was sitting (on top of Ron’s desk).

Then Ron obtained a domain name for Tera and the site was formally launched in 2004 as Tera Patricks’ Mac360-- a web site about Macs-- software reviews and commentary.

Just before the formal launch of Mac360, my friend Bambi called and asked if I’d be interested in writing for a web site about Macs. Somehow the term ”blog” disappeared. Suddenly, Mac360 was a web site about Macs.

Ron enlisted a couple of friends from near his family home in Missouri, Carol and Jack Miller. Carol is a teacher and long time Mac user. Jack works for a systems integrator in St. Louis and is a switcher from Windows.

That gave Mac360 a literary team, of sorts. Our first objective was to review Mac software that we would use (not bothering much with software we didn’t like or wouldn’t use ourselves).

Our second objective was to provide critical commentary to all things Apple and Mac. Unfortunately, that’s a territory that also includes Windows, Microsoft, iPods, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the crazy things that happen each day in the Mac webosphere.

That’s how we started, but the road to today was filled with a few bumps along the way.

Mac users appeared to enjoy reading about Mac software. I like to think that maybe our perceptive perspectives had a hand in the growing audience, but the rest of the team said dream on, girl.

The number of visitors to Mac360 grew and we had to move the site from the sunflower iMac on Ron’s desk to an aging but more powerful PowerMac G4 sitting under his desk.

Bandwidth in those days was limited and expensive, so Mac360 was moved to a couple of Linux servers over the following year or so. Then, in late 2005, Tera, who had suffered from two previous bouts with cancer, was stricken again and died less than a year later.

Bambi enlisted a close friend from New York, Kate MacKenzie to join Mac360 as a writer in 2006. Jeffrey Mincey came on board to assist with another technical perspective. Ron donated a PowerMac G5 as the Mac360 server.

A web site about Macs that runs on a Mac. Is that cool or what?

By the end of 2006, visitors to Mac360 had doubled from previous averages and the site needed more bandwidth and a more powerful server. Jeffrey suggested we look at Server Logistics in Los Angeles, a host that uses Macs, including the new Intel Xserve. That’s where Mac360 sits today; still running on a Mac.

Why do we do this? What is so special about Apple and Macs that we would devote time an energy and effort and a few tears to Mac360?

First, because Tera asked us to help out, knowing that we’re all Mac users and we bring a unique perspective to Mac software and the world of Apple. Second, it’s become a pleasant adventure. We peer more closely into all things Mac than we would have otherwise, and we’ve met many great Mac users online.

Other changes took place behind the scenes. I had a baby in early 2006. Natalia Nowak, one of our early Forums moderators, began to write for Mac360. Nat got married late in 2006. Everyone is married now, including our Queen Bee, Bambi.

Our objective at Mac360 is to continue Tera’s original quest to provide a web site that reviews quality Mac software and provides commentary with a unique perspective. We appreciate the involvement you’ve offered through the years with article comments and forums posts.

I assume you have an ever inquiring mind. If so, then check out Bambi’s Original FAQs, and Tera’s Even More Original FAQs. Our thanks to Ron McElfresh for acting as publisher and editor of Mac360 from the beginning.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

Off Topic #23 & #18 - Want to speed up your Mac? Try Kate MacKenzie’s approach to the $7.99 speed increase. Do you have a back up system for your Mac? Kate’s PixoBebo shows you how to use Time Machine with SuperDuper! for the ultimate Mac back up. And she doesn’t even charge Mac360 readers to visit her site.

Off Topic #23 - Mac OS X Leopard is now at version 10.5.2 which we’re proclaiming the best yet, though we expect version 10.5.3 soon. If you haven’t upgraded yet, don’t forget that Leopard is on sale at the Mac360 Store, and so are the latest Leopard books. If you plan to order Leopard or a Leopard tips book from Amazon, please consider using the Mac360 Store to place your order (it’s really Amazon). Click Here to look at the latest Leopard books.