User:Floydwilde/Winsite

Work In Progress Article
Winsite is a long running Shareware, Freeware, and (what other kind of wares are there? Abandonware? ).  It may not warrant it's own Wikipedia page but it should most certainly be on a page for a list of such Shareware sites. It started out as an FTP server hosted by the Center for Innovative Computer Applications which was established in 1989 according to this time line:


 * http://racinfo.indiana.edu/impact/timeline.php

By 1991 there existed a FTP server which began collecting and distributing this type of software.

From the Winsite About page:


 * https://www.winsite.com/help/about.html

WinSite (formerly the CICA Windows FTP archives, online from 1991-1994) went on the air Friday, October 13th, 1995. Despite the superstitious date, we emerged from the temporary accommodations generously provided by Indiana University's Center for Innovative Computer Applications (CICA), to a full T1 Internet connection (which we easily saturated), with three times the processing power and twice the disk space. We have grown from our humble roots: out of tower chasis and into rack-mounted servers, mega-byte to giga-bytes of disk storage, and from leased-line/T1s (twisted pairs of copper strands) connecting us from a small cottage in Bloomington into an all-fiber optic OC-192 worldwide backbone collocation facility.

The WinSite archives receives its careful management and gentle care from its original founders, and its many, many friends. We are pleased to continue serving the authoring community by sticking to our CORE mission: providing an easy, free, and strong online presence for the promotion of and advocate for the best Windows shareware, freeware, and trialware on the Internet.

What's here? With the continuing support of the shareware, freeware developer community, we present an amazing array of software. Games, utilities. Things that make your printer print better, and tools and utilities to help you computer better. Our collection is carefully selected. Checked for viruses. Approved by humans, for the use of humans.

Some googling reveals that Michael Regoli was the CEO until the site was sold in 2009 from his LinkedIn Profile:


 * https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-regoli/

Winsite Group Inc CEO

Company Name

Winsite Group Inc Dates Employed 1995 – 2009 Employment Duration 14 yrs

Established in 1991, through the generosity of the Center for Innovative Computer Applications (CICA) at Indiana University, the CICA Windows FTP Archives, I created the largest (at the time) Windows shareware and freeware archives in the world. Incorporated in 1994 as WinSite Group, the server farm that we developed became the largest collection of Windows freeware, shareware, and trialware on the Internet. With many of its worldwide mirror sites still operational, WinSite Group was sold in 2009.

(Can you cite a Linked In Profile? Probably can find some info on the deal published somewhere. I had a quick google, but couldn't turn anything up.)

FTP README
While digging around for the above information I found an Internet forum post where a user is looking for an old game, posted on 10th August 2017:


 * http://www.theassimilationlab.com/forums/topic/16196-searching-for-an-old-game/

And I looked at the link which appears to be a FTP mirror of Winsite hosted at a research centre in Warsaw:


 * http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/win95/winsite/README