Very very cool. Thank you for all the work I know this meant for you. It's a great service to Mac users.

-Mary "Wiz" Wisnewski, Apple Web Maven, IS&T Web Services

In August of 1995 I started the UnOfficial Information Alley (UIA) project with the express intention of repurposing already extant content for easier, quicker, and fuller access. The project started small, with only one mirror and grew to has as many as 8 mirrors, some behind firewalls, most completely open to the public.

At no time during this project did we receive any money or product. Every mirror, every Admin gave their time selflessly because they believed in the ideals of UIA and The Macintosh Way. We tirelessly refined the site, making it accessible, fast, and refined.

I am very pleased with the site, w/ its progress, and how much I've learned during this project. All Good Things must end, and with this issue UIA ends.

It is now public knowledge that Apple is refining their systems internally to deliver much better WWW support. What most people do not already know is Apple has provided excellent WWW resources for the past 2 years. I've not been allowed to reveal what I did know for several months about these projects and will not do so now. I can say you will be VERY pleased with them.

Yesterday Wayne Brissette left Apple for a new position. Wayne has not given me permission to reveal the company, but I wish him success.

According to my exchanges with Apple Computer, I see no reason the Admins cannot retain the content on their servers. I inquired if this would be permissable and Apple was silent, so the Admins can decide, on their own, if they wish to continue hosting the content. Depedent on their decisions, I might maintain and refine the pages simply for posterity's sake.

Where do we go from here? I am moving my time to another project I've been spottedly involved with over the past few months. I will post a URL to this project on April 9th for everyone to explore. Further, I am going to start an irregularly published article on what Apple's WWW sites have to offer, there exists mountains of information people are missing: I aime to change that. As is my tradition, this will not be an Apple endorsed activity, which allows me greater freedom and, frankly, they need to focus.

It is my belief this project succeeded at all the goals I set for it, and, in that, I am very proud. The following people deserve everyone's applause and commendations. Please send them an email saying THANKS!:

From Apple Computer, Inc:

• Wayne Brissette
• Janet Christiasen
• Charlie McCabe
• Holli Kearns
• Fred Widmer
• Diana Ezell

WWW Server Admins:

• Mark White - Who provided our very first site, allowed me shell access to experiment and debug, and generally is an awesome guy!

• Mark Dodd - One of the earliest sites, JHU is ultra reliable and ultra fast for a IIci! Mark also lent space for the FTP distribution w/o which UIA couldn't happen. Mark is Mr Link Checker.

• Michael Grinner - Our friend in Europe, Michael updates almost as fast as I post. Michael was also the subject of my VERY last college paper, staying up and typing, responding, and allowing me to generally pump him for information about All Thing Austrian. Michael is Mr. HTML Checker.

• Walt Campbell - Of OSI, Walt has one of those firewalled mirrors.

• Craig 'Spaceman Spiff' Moore - Another firewalled mirror admin.

• Paul Groth - Although Paul had to cease his involvement, Paul not only provided valuable FTP space but also hosted a WWW mirror.

• Brian Rowan - A simple, quite FTP admin. The FTP site lasts til this day and Brian kept giving me more space and access. He cannot be thanked enough for his silent support.

• Paul Drummond - For a short time Paul provided a second European mirror that proved invaluable as our volume increased.

• Todd Kunkel - Todd was my second mirror and, at that time, religiously nit-picked my HTML. Although Todd ceased involvement almost a year ago, his help really contributed to UIA. Our first major revision owed much to Todd.

• Robert Hartley - Of PAGraphics, Bob provided yet another mirror of UIA when some of the other ones had technical difficulties.

• Chris Chernesky - I owe absolutely my entire WWW career to Chris. He taught me everything I know about the Internet and I simply cannot thank Chris enough. From before UIA was even a twinkling in my eye, Chris has lent support as both a friend and a professional peer.

Peace, long life, and prosperity to all...

   Scott D. Sauer

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