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eWorld was a short-lived online service of Apple Computer.
In the early 1990s as online services were becoming widely popular Apple was looking into replacing their aging dealer-only online service known as AppleLink. The dealer-only service was jointly run by GE Information Services and Apple. The service had begun in 1985 as a means to reduce the cost of supporting the company's worldwide network of authorized dealers. It quickly became the de facto e-mail system for Apple and its various dealers. John Ebbs , Apple's head of support, convinced the management that the system ought to be Macintosh-based to take advantage of the Mac's graphical interface.
Before the advent of eWorld Apple had started a consumer oriented online support service known as AppleLink -- Personal Edition. This service was run by Quantum Computer Services. Quantum's Steve Case moved to California for three months to convince Apple to let Quantum run the consumer service. In 1987 Apple allowed Quantum to run the service and granted them use of the Apple logo . Apple received a 10 percent royalty for all the system's users while Quantum made their money by actually running the service.
The ideologies of the companies soon clashed. Quantum wanted to bundle the AppleLink software with new Macs and distribute it through direct marketing. Apple didn't believe in giving away non-system software for free. That coupled with Apple's strict design guidelines caused Quantum to eventually terminate their contract. Steve Case had, however, negotiated a rather beneficial contract for them granting them rights to the use of the Apple logo and disallowed Apple from marketing their own online service.
In 1991 Quantum renamed themselves America Online and opened their service up to PCThe term personal computer or PC has three meanings: IBM's range of PCs that led to the use of the term see IBM PC. A generic term used to describe all microcomputers (mentioned here). A generic term sometimes used to describe a computer based on IBM's or and Macintosh users. Apple wanted out of their contract with GE which was costing them far more money than it was saving and wanted to provide their own Mac-only competition to AOL's service. They canceled their GE contract and formed an Online Services Group. The group bought the AppleLink software from AOL and developed into what would be known as eWorld. The group also struck a deal with AOL to help develop the service and spent 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic. working on the new software and various services to be offered.
On January 5January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 360 days remaining until the end of the year (361 in leap years). Events 1463 Poet Francois Villon is banned from Paris. 1477 Battle of Nancy, Charles the Bold killed, Burgundy beco, 19941994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family''. Events January events January 1 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect January 6 Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an, Apple announced eWorld at Apple Fest . On June 20June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. Events 1214 University of Oxford receives its charter. 1685 Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwa of that year the service went into full operation. The eWorld service was a combination of the vast technical and support archives of the previous AppleLink services and a more traditional community service like AOL and CompuServeCompuServe was a major online service during the 1980s and 1990s before it was sidelined by the rise of GUI-based services such as America Online. One of the "big three" US based services, both The Source and GEnie were squeezed out of the market because. The primary portal of the service was the eWorld software. The software was based around a " town hall" theme where each of the services branches were individual " buildingBuilding is either the act of creating an object assembled from more than one element, or the object itself. A building is usually a human-created object composed of more than a single element, permanently fixed to the ground, that mediates one or more ass". The software was Mac-only but a Windows version was promised to appear in 1995.
The town hall metaphor made eWorld simple to access and provided users with a strong sense of community. Several Mac software and hardware companies opened up virtual forums on the service to provide customer support and general product information to subscribers. The main eWorld portal also linked up to various news services.
The two most widely used parts of eWorld were the eMail Center and Community Center. The Community Center was an online BBS where thousands of ePeople (eWorld users) congregated to chat about various subjects. The eMail Center was a virtual post office and provided most ePeople with their first ever exposure to e-mail. The service also housed reams of support and technical documents.