Resource Central was an
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
publishing house in Overland Park, Kansas. It was founded by former ''Softalk'' columnist and Beagle Bros software author Tom Weishaar. Resource Central was responsible for many List of publications and periodicals devoted to the Apple II, Apple II publications, including:
*''Open-Apple'': the flagship newsletter, published monthly. Edited by Tom Weishaar, Dennis Doms, Ellen Konowitz Rosenberg.
*''A2-Central'': Open-Apple was eventually renamed A2-Central to avoid trademark infringement with Apple Computer. In its last year it was distributed in a disk-only version, edited by Doug Cuff.
*''A2-Central On Disk'': a disk based version of the newsletter, with supplemental materials to help blind users read the magazine, as well as selected shareware and freeware. Edited by Dean Esmay.
*''Script-Central'': a publication devoted to Apple's then-popular
HyperCard
HyperCard is a application software, software application and software development kit, development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web.
HyperCard com ...
product. Edited by Bruce "HangTime" Caplin and Bo Monroe.
*''Studio-City'': a publication devoted to the
HyperStudio hypermedia product. Edited by Dean Esmay and Bo Monroe.
*''HyperActive'': a multimedia arts publication
Resource Central also founded the long-running
KansasFest conference and expo. Originally called the A2-Central Summer Conference and immediately dubbed "KansasFest" by attendees (combining the name of the other major Apple II event of the time, the AppleFest expo, with Resource Central's location in suburban Kansas City), KFest is still held annually.
Largely forgotten is that, late in Resource Central's lifetime, Tom Weishaar recruited s couple of
GEnie
GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...
denizens to create and publish "Open Windows" in an attempt to orient Apple users to Microsoft Windows. The Open Windows monthly publication lasted one year, and was delivered on a disk in executable zip format. When unzipped, the publication ran as a Windows Help file (.hlp) application. Although somewhat popular, it did nothing to revive Resource Central or prevent its demise.
Resource Central went out of business in February 1995.
In July 2010, it was announced that the entire Open-Apple and Resource Central catalog was reclassified to the
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
3.0 Attribution License.
References
Companies based in Overland Park, Kansas
Computer magazine publishing companies
Defunct mass media companies of the United States
Magazine publishing companies of the United States
Defunct companies based in Kansas
Apple II periodicals
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