During the first year of operation, growth was significant, as MacNET represented the first time that a graphic user interface (GUI) was widely available to customers who had previously been limited to the command line interface of CompuServe and GEnie. At launch, a forum titled Mac Symposium managed by Stuart Gitlow was launched using the freeware and shareware libraries of LaserBoard and BMUG as a starting point.
During the initial year of operation, growth was substantial because MacNET provided the first widely available graphical user interface (GUI) for customers who had previously only used command line interfaces like those offered by CompuServe and GEnie.  At launch, a forum called Mac Symposium was created by Stuart Gitlow using freeware and shareware software from LaserBoard and BMUG as its foundation.