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Bulletin Board Systems

In the continuing evolution of computer communications, the modem arrived on the scene in the 1970s but did not gain widespread appeal until the mid-1980s. Finally, computers in remote locations-countries, coasts, or continents away-could connect with each other. This made it easy for two individuals at a time to exchange files with each other and even to chat online. This initial modem connection was linear, and therefore limited in scope, as only two users could take advantage of one connection.

Bulletin board system(BBS) software was created to enhance the modem's capabilities (see Figure 4.3). Now, individuals could connect to other computers in remote locations, albeit excruciatingly slowly and with much patience and technical know-how. Thus began the first forms of remote digital exchange. Businesses used BBS technology to provide technical support to clients and employees. Hobbyists and interest groups utilized the technology as a new, faster means of communication. Whereas the modem enabled a site-to-site or computer-to-computer connection, bulletin boards enabled computers to communicate and exchange information through this connection. Now, instead of a person-to-person connection, it was much like today's conference call, with many users from remote sites congregating in a common cyberarea.

Figure 4.3: Bulletin board system (BBS) technology connects a computer to several modems communicating with other computers over telephone lines and single modems.

BBS software was one of the first vestiges of client/server applications. Initial client/server technology consisted of a main computer, operated by the systems operator, or sysop, which was capable of connecting several hundred modems. At the other end of the connection was the individual user's machine, with its single modem. The user dialed the BBS from its single modem and connected to one of the BBS's modems. At first, users had to type in arcane commands to accomplish everything from communicating and processing information to searching and retrieving data, as shown in Figure 4.4. Later came graphical interfaces, first with ASCII characters and then with graphic files.

Figure 4.4: BBSs have a variety of interfaces, such as this ASCII interface.

BBSs were one of the first communications tools to deal with the issues of cross-platform computing. Because there was no common operating system, or language, the BBS sysop did not know what type of computer was connecting with it. To further complicate the connection, at this time there was a larger variety of computers on the market and in use than there are today. Atari, Commodore, Amiga, Texas Instruments, as well as Apple and IBM, were all popular home PCs at that time. Each had their own operating systems and configurations. The BBS operator's task was to construct a common interface so that it could communicate with any computer. One of the first such interfaces, and one that remains prevalent in terminal connections today, was ANSI/VT-100. With VT-100, any computer anywhere could connect to a BBS and get a common interface.

The first BBSs performed only limited functions, mainly providing an area for uploading or downloading files and e-mail. As the software grew more complex, more functions were added, such as message boards. Here users carried on conversations by posting and replying to messages on a range of topics. As BBSs became more popular and host computers became more powerful, with the capability to handle more connections, users began to "chat" in real time. This allowed multiple users to "speak" with each other at the same time. Chatting in real time allowed users to have a dynamic rather than a static conversation. Some users even played games with each other over BBSs.

Businesses, mostly computer related, started using BBSs to provide computer files such as drivers, patches, and upgrades to their customers and to handle technical support. With message boards, a technical support question only had be answered once and then was posted for any user to access. Now any user could find answers to common questions without tying up phone lines or expensive human technicians. BBSs were created on a simple theory: Place a reservoir of information on a single computer, make it accessible to the world, and let it be a meeting place for the exchange of information and ideas.

The server aspect was the key to BBSs' success in the age of the modem. It enabled users to log on once a day or once a month to retrieve their e-mail, new files, or new message board postings. The information was stored on the server for the individual user to retrieve at his or her leisure; an expensive constant or direct connection was not necessary.

Shortly after BBSs became the main avenue for computer communications, BBSs started connecting to each other and to the Internet in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now, in addition to exchanging e-mail and files with other users on a single BBS, the Internet and multiple BBSs enabled users to perform these functions with many users (see Figure 4.5). At first, it was set up in multilevel client/server fashion. The BBS functioned as a server for its individual users but as a client for the Internet as a whole. The first BBSs to connect to the Internet did so through a modem connection to an Internet service provider that sent and downloaded the user's mail a few times a day.

Figure 4.5: Two BBSs connected through the Internet serving client computers over modems.

In 1995, Boardwatch BoardWatch magazinemagazine listed more than 30,000 bulletin board systems in the United States.

From the large and isolated mainframe and the first desktop PCs of limited data exchange evolved today's PCs, which allow users to create files and applications and to communicate and share those files with users worldwide. E-mail as we know it today was born from these initial BBSs.

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