Retro Tech Tuesday: Apple's 2000 Internet Strategy

Today we turn back the clock just a bit, to 2000. Only nine years ago, yet somehow it feels like an eternity in internet time.

It was in 2000 that Apple announced some exciting plans for the internet. Those plans included iReview (iWhat? the newer mac users ask) which was a site for reviews of sites, as well as perhaps the most dated part of their announcement was "a multi-year partnership and investment with Earthlink for Internet access." As crazy as that sounds now, at the time, it actually made a lot of sense. Apple needed to ensure that Mac-friendly gateways to the internet existed.

Another forgotten announcement from that time: KidSafe. As Apple described it:

KidSafe specifies what kids can see, rather than trying to filter out what they shouldn’t see. KidSafe downloads a software module into the computer’s operating system, which then verifies that each requested web destination is KidSafe by checking with Apple’s KidSafe server. Apple’s server contains over 50,000 KidSafe sites, with over 10,000 new sites being added per month. All KidSafe sites are approved by certified teachers and librarians. KidSafe can also disable Internet email, chat sites and games.

Today's youth run amuck, and it's clearly Apple's fault for killing off KidSafe! Seriously though, it was an interesting feature to sell parents on getting a Mac, and it's a little surprising it didn't carry over to the paid .mac and later MobileMe services.

Want to check out the rest of the iTools features? Here's the original press release, still available on Apple's site.