#Firstclass client for linux mac#

However, it was run on a mainframe for Apple Computer and couldn't be purchased, so the team offered to build a system under contract for $85,000. The team found only one product, AppleLink, which came close to filling the requirements.

#Firstclass client for linux mac#

Various LAN e-mail systems existed those on the Mac had reasonable GUIs, but they tended to have poor modem support and few offered forums. BBSes offered modem support and public forums, but typically had no LAN support and were character-based.

He wanted a system that 'even teachers could use'. He asked them to find a reasonable Macintosh-based e-mail system that offered both LAN and modem support, a real GUI, and supported both private e-mail as well as public discussion areas (forums). After a run-in with management, the three left and formed SoftArc as a consulting firm.įirstClass was created in response to a request by a family friend who worked at the Scarborough Board of Education (now part of the Toronto District School Board). The team, consisting of two brothers and a friend, Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury and Scott Welch had been the primary developers of the successful Meridian Mail system, and styled themselves as the Toronto Ideas Group.

FirstClass was originally a product of SoftArc, formed by three former members of Bell Northern Research, Nortel's research arm located in downtown Toronto.