About MacFixIt
From October 2003 to August 2009, I wrote a monthly column for MacFixIt, titled mac.column.ted. For more information about these articles, click here.
History
MacFixIt is a Web site for troubleshooting news and information about the Macintosh. It began in March of 1996. At that time, it was called The Sad Macs Update Site. It started primarily as an online update to my book, Sad Macs, Bombs and Other Disasters. The idea was for it to cover information that came out after the most recent edition of the book had been published.
However, it quickly evolved into a more general site that focused on troubleshooting advice for the entire Mac community. And, as its Late-Breakers section began to be updated more regularly, the news page became the main focus of the site. In recognition of these changes, the site was renamed MacFixIt on October 10, 1996.
I was the entire staff at first. Over the years, MacFixIt expanded, eventually adding a staff of about a dozen people.
MacFixIt was sold to TechTracker on July 14, 2000. TechTracker also owns VersionTracker. In September 2007, TechTracker was purchased by CNET. In May 2008, CNET was purchased by CBS.
As of July 15, 2002, I stepped down as editor of MacFixIt. See this page for details.
In October 2003, I started writing a monthly column for MacFixIt called mac.column.ted. The last column in this series was written in June 2009 (and should be posted soon). I no longer have any relationship with MacFixit — financial, editorial or otherwise.
See my March 2006 mac.column.ted column (copied here as a PDF) for more details about the history of MacFixIt.
In August 2009, I bade farewell to MacFixIt, writing my final column. I no longer have any association with the site, other than an historical one. Shortly thereafter, MacFixIt underwent a design overhaul, with a new URL, incorporating it more into the general CNET site structure.
Home pages from the past
Courtesy of the Wayback Machine, here are a few screen shots of the top of MacFixIt's home page from years gone by:
If I had thought about it at the time, I probably would have saved these pages myself. But I didn't, except in a very few cases. Via the WayBack Machine, you can view the full home page, if you want.
Reviews and Awards
MacFixIt has been recognized as one of the best Mac sites on the Web, receiving critical acclaim from sources as prominent and varied as U.S. News & World Report, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Yahoo! Internet Life - as well as virtually all Mac media.
PC Magazine listed MacFixIt as one of its Top 100 Web Sites in 2004.
Yahoo! Internet Life cited MacFixIt as one of its Best of the Best Sites for 1998.
U.S News & World Report, in an article on Mac OS X, listed MacFixIt as the best Mac site for troubleshooting information.
The Vancouver Sun described MacFixIt as "the best place for the lowdown on OS X."
Apple, in its (now defunct) iReview site, gave MacFixIt its highest (5 star) rating. Reader comments also gave MacFixIt 5 stars.
Macworld named MacFixIt as the Best Troubleshooting Site on the Web. In an another Macworld article, MacFixIt was listed as one of the Best Mac Web Sites.
Low End Mac's Best of the Mac Web surveys have consistently ranked MacFixIt among the top sites.
Mac Today selected MacFixIt as one of its "Top Ten Web Sites of the Year."
MacAddict described MacFixIt as "the best place on the Web to go for troubleshooting advice and support." (July, 1999)
Macs Only! named MacFixIt as the Best Independent Web Site of 1998 (Quality).
Zap.com listed MacFixIt as one of the "Zap200 Best Internet Sites."
MacFixIt has been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, Access Magazine, and USA Weekend magazine, as one of the best sites for online tech support.
MacFixIt has also been praised in almost every other relevant tech media source, including Mac Home Journal, and Computer Currents. MacFixIt is also featured on MacSurfer's Headline News, Apple's Online Publications page and dozens of other sites that list links for recommended Mac sites.
MacFixIt makes the news
They say no publicity is bad publicity. Maybe so, but we cut it close with this article in the New York Times (December 2001). MacFixIt found itself at the center of a controversy when, as part of a larger article on Mac OS X 10.1.1, we included information on how to convert an OS X 10.1 Update CD into a full Install CD. We discovered how to do this while trying to solve a significant troubleshooting issue. Skipping over details: Users with the update CD could not reinstall OS X 10.1 if needed. They instead needed to reinstall 10.0 and then update in stages back to 10.1 (much more time-consuming). Our solution allowed these OS X users to reinstall OS X 10.1. Unfortunately, it also allowed users who did not own OS X to convert the free 10.1 update CD to a functioning full Install CD. As a result, Apple "asked" us to remove the material. We did.
This made more news than we ever imagined or wanted - with coverage on wired, cnet, as well as the New York Times. It was also covered on many technology Web sites. Much of the coverage unfortunately emphasized the more "sensationalistic" aspects of the story. Mac Night Owl was one site that offered a more reasoned assessment of the situation.