Manaccom

Manaccom commenced operations in February 1986 as the Australia and New Zealand distributor of PC-SIG’s library of shareware software for the IBM PC. The shareware concept could only prosper if users elected to purchase the "full version" of the software which was initially purchased as a trial for a few dollars for each diskette. Manaccom represented many pioneering developers in Australia and distributed full versions of the software, along with manuals and provided telephone support. The business prospered with most customers being consumers and small businesses which were more than happy with the software offered at a fraction of the price of the main stream titles. Products included PC-File, File Express, PC-Write, As-Easy-As, Draft Choice, Galaxy Word Processing, PC-Outline and FormGen. Manaccom’s founder, Ian Mackay, was the first person from outside of North America to be inducted into the Shareware Hall of Fame. The PC-SIG library of shareware software was made available on CD ROM when the first CD drives were released. It is worth noting that Manaccom was an early vendor of CD-ROM drives and probably was the first to offer a drive in Australia at less than $1000.