<s>
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
(	O
sometimes	O
MajorBBS	B-Application
or	O
MBBS	O
)	O
was	O
bulletin	O
board	O
software	O
(	O
a	O
bulletin	B-Application
board	I-Application
system	I-Application
server	O
)	O
developed	O
between	O
1986	O
and	O
1999	O
by	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1995	O
it	O
was	O
renamed	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Server	O
and	O
bundled	O
with	O
a	O
user	O
client	O
interface	O
program	O
named	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Manager	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
DOS-based	O
,	O
two	O
of	O
the	O
versions	O
were	O
also	O
available	O
as	O
a	O
Unix-based	O
edition	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
last	O
versions	O
were	O
also	O
available	O
for	O
Windows	O
NT-based	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Tim	O
Stryker	O
and	O
launched	O
in	O
1986	O
by	O
Stryker	O
's	O
company	O
,	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
demonstration	O
of	O
the	O
abilities	O
of	O
the	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
Software	O
Breakthrough	O
Library	O
(	O
or	O
GSBL	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GSBL	O
was	O
a	O
powerful	O
set	O
of	O
assembler	B-Language
routines	O
written	O
for	O
IBM	O
and	O
compatible	O
PCs	O
that	O
allowed	O
up	O
to	O
32	O
simultaneous	O
serial	B-Protocol
port	I-Protocol
or	O
dialup	O
connections	O
to	O
a	O
single	O
software	O
instance	O
without	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
an	O
external	O
multitasker	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
"	O
breakthrough	O
"	O
was	O
that	O
the	O
library	O
polled	O
the	O
serial	B-Protocol
ports	I-Protocol
,	O
rather	O
than	O
allowing	O
them	O
to	O
interrupt	O
the	O
processor	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
against	O
the	O
accepted	O
wisdom	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
through	O
use	O
of	O
polling	O
and	O
making	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
FIFO	O
buffers	O
that	O
were	O
by	O
this	O
time	O
standard	O
on	O
UART	O
chips	O
,	O
an	O
-	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
-	O
unheard	O
of	O
number	O
of	O
serial	B-Protocol
ports	I-Protocol
could	O
be	O
attached	O
to	O
a	O
PC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eventually	O
,	O
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
was	O
enhanced	O
enough	O
that	O
it	O
became	O
a	O
marketable	O
product	O
in	O
its	O
own	O
right	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
late	O
1987	O
,	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
was	O
licensing	O
more	O
copies	O
of	O
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
than	O
the	O
GSBL	O
by	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GSBL	O
continued	O
to	O
be	O
enhanced	O
,	O
expanding	O
to	O
64	O
users	O
by	O
1988	O
,	O
then	O
256	O
by	O
1992	O
,	O
with	O
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
's	O
line	O
capacity	O
expanding	O
as	O
a	O
result	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
it	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
few	O
multi-line	O
bulletin	B-Application
board	I-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
MBBS	O
software	O
was	O
known	O
for	O
fostering	O
online	O
communities	O
and	O
an	O
interactive	O
online	O
experience	O
where	O
users	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
interact	O
with	O
each	O
other	O
via	O
Teleconference	O
(	O
chat	O
rooms	O
)	O
and	O
multiplayer	O
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
flexibility	O
spawned	O
a	O
small	O
industry	O
of	O
Independent	O
Software	O
Vendors	O
(	O
ISV	O
)	O
who	O
began	O
developing	O
MBBS	O
add-ons	O
,	O
which	O
ranged	O
from	O
shopping	O
malls	O
(	O
what	O
would	O
now	O
be	O
called	O
shopping	B-Application
cart	I-Application
software	I-Application
)	O
to	O
online	B-Application
role	I-Application
playing	I-Application
games	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
allowed	O
incoming	O
connections	O
via	O
modems	B-Application
on	O
telephone	O
lines	O
,	O
IPX	B-Protocol
networks	O
,	O
and	O
X.25	B-Protocol
packet-switched	B-Protocol
networks	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
mid-1990s	O
,	O
the	O
offering	O
expanded	O
to	O
include	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
by	O
the	O
ISV	O
Vircom	O
,	O
a	O
Canadian	O
company	O
that	O
has	O
since	O
become	O
well	O
known	O
for	O
its	O
anti-spam/anti	O
-virus	O
software	O
,	O
shortly	O
followed	O
by	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
's	O
own	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
add-on	O
,	O
the	O
Internet	O
Connection	O
Option	O
(	O
ICO	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
derived	O
from	O
another	O
ISV	O
's	O
offering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1992	O
,	O
the	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
was	O
selected	O
by	O
the	O
National	O
Library	O
of	O
Medicine	O
as	O
the	O
access	O
mechanism	O
for	O
the	O
Grateful	O
Med	O
medical	O
journal	O
system	O
,	O
just	O
prior	O
to	O
universal	O
access	O
via	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Seeking	O
to	O
compete	O
with	O
America	O
Online	O
,	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
extended	O
The	B-Application
Major	I-Application
BBS	I-Application
software	O
to	O
communicate	O
in	O
a	O
client	B-Operating_System
–	I-Operating_System
server	I-Operating_System
model	I-Operating_System
with	O
a	O
custom	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MBBS	O
software	O
was	O
renamed	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Server	O
,	O
and	O
released	O
in	O
1995	O
with	O
the	O
version	O
number	O
restarting	O
at	O
1.0	O
;	O
the	O
included	O
user-side	O
client	O
software	O
was	O
named	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Manager	O
(	O
but	O
sometimes	O
known	O
as	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Client	O
)	O
and	O
ran	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
3.0	O
in	O
1997	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
32-bit	O
version	O
of	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Server	O
,	O
was	O
released	O
for	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
versions	O
,	O
like	O
the	O
DOS	B-Device
compatible	O
version	O
continued	O
in	O
development	O
simultaneously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
3.0	O
finally	O
focused	O
on	O
an	O
active	O
HTML	O
web	O
community	O
,	O
after	O
three	O
years	O
of	O
concentrating	O
on	O
the	O
original	O
client	B-Operating_System
–	I-Operating_System
server	I-Operating_System
strategy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
3.1	O
was	O
the	O
final	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
Server	O
to	O
support	O
DOS	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Worldgroup	B-Application
initially	O
had	O
some	O
success	O
,	O
the	O
initial	O
proprietary	B-Application
client/server	B-Operating_System
model	O
was	O
an	O
unfortunate	O
strategic	O
choice	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
was	O
just	O
emerging	O
as	O
a	O
dominant	O
phenomenon	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
popularity	O
of	O
the	O
text-terminal-based	O
BBSes	B-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
America	O
Online	O
's	O
proprietary	B-Application
client	O
model	O
,	O
faded	O
as	O
online	O
use	O
became	O
web-oriented	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Galacticomm	B-Application
's	O
slow	O
response	O
in	O
adapting	O
to	O
the	O
web-based	O
online	O
model	O
probably	O
was	O
fatal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
Technologies	O
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
Tessier	O
and	O
Peter	O
Berg	O
led	O
the	O
company	O
toward	O
an	O
initial	O
public	O
offering	O
,	O
which	O
failed	O
in	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
,	O
a	O
system	O
's	O
linecount	O
depended	O
on	O
the	O
user	O
limit	O
of	O
the	O
GSBL	O
purchased	O
with	O
the	O
BBS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GSBL	O
(	O
and	O
thus	O
the	O
BBS	B-Application
)	O
was	O
offered	O
in	O
2	O
,	O
4	O
,	O
8	O
,	O
16	O
,	O
32	O
,	O
or	O
64	O
user	O
editions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
a	O
limitation	O
of	O
the	O
16-bit	O
architecture	O
of	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
Major	B-Application
BBS	I-Application
was	O
limited	O
to	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
255	O
incoming	O
lines	O
(	O
plus	O
one	O
'	O
local	O
console	O
 '	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
practice	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
extremely	O
difficult	O
to	O
scale	O
to	O
this	O
level	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
16MB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
limitation	O
of	O
the	O
Phar	O
Lap	O
286	O
memory	O
extender	O
in	O
use	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
physical	O
limitations	O
on	O
connecting	O
255	O
modems	B-Application
to	O
a	O
single	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
data	O
files	O
were	O
stored	O
using	O
a	O
Btrieve	B-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
it	O
relied	O
on	O
serial	B-Protocol
ports	I-Protocol
the	O
number	O
of	O
which	O
was	O
limited	O
to	O
4	O
by	O
the	O
standard	O
PC/MS	O
-DOS	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
Galacticomm	B-Application
provided	O
some	O
of	O
their	O
own	O
hardware	O
to	O
increase	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
communication	O
channels	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Vircom	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
—	O
allowed	O
the	O
system	O
to	O
link	O
to	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
provide	O
both	O
inbound	O
and	O
outbound	O
FTP	O
and	O
Telnet	O
services	O
,	O
and	O
provide	O
e-mail	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
add-on	O
also	O
allowed	O
MajorBBS	B-Application
to	O
provide	O
dialup	O
Internet	O
access	O
via	O
SLIP	B-Protocol
and	O
PPP	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Vircom	O
RADIUS	B-Protocol
—	O
a	O
RADIUS	B-Protocol
server	I-Protocol
which	O
allowed	O
MajorBBS	B-Application
to	O
act	O
as	O
the	O
central	O
authentication	B-Application
and	I-Application
billing	I-Application
server	I-Application
for	O
any	O
number	O
of	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
Internet	B-Protocol
services	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
