Re: RemoteAccess
  By: William Pryor to Darryl Dunnaway on Mon Aug 04 2003 07:13 pm

 > I guess there isn't much of a reward anymore.. because everyone is
 > doing the internet thing and not too many even know what a BBS is
 > anymore.. when I say BBS everyone thinks I'm talking about a php web
 > board or something.. hehe... I don't know.. maybe if there was a way
 > to continue development for the people who registered at least..

Not monetary reward.  Maybe just a feeling that you've accomplished
something.  I think that is what a lot of people have forgotten...money isn't
everything.

I think Rob Swindell has done some great work with Synchronet...and I believe
he's proud of it, as he should be.  He took quite a few years off away from
development...but he did come back and brought Sync into the future.  It
seems to me that the only two BBS packages that truly have _ACTIVE_
development are Synchronet and Winserver....both of which I have.  They both
have their pluses and minuses.  Of the two I use Synchronet because I want
to.

I think that most BBS authors got burned out by trying to accomodate (sp?)
the wishes of the registered users, unreasonable pricing structures, and the
sudden internet boom.

Just take a look at all the different BBS packages that disappeared or were
sold in the late 90's.

PCBoard - CDC - out of business in 1997
Winserver - Mustang sold to Santronics around the same time.
WWIV - Wayne Bell sold around the same time.
QuickBBS - There one day, gone the next.  Truly no notice.
Telegard - Free - however Tim Strike disappeared shortly after 12/99 release.
MajorBBS/WorldGroup - After the CEO committed suicide, it lost it's vision
                      and sold eventually to someone who just doesn't realize
                      that the money making days of BBSing is over.

Let's not forget the multitude of other software that disappeared, went
public domain, or was released under the GPL.

I think it's pretty basic why BBS's aren't as popular as they were.  
    
    1.  The authors gave up trying to compete with the internet.  They should
        have realized that they could never compete with the eye candy of the
        internet without some massive changes.  Only Mustang, Galacticomm,
        and CDC realized this at the time, and only Mustang and Galacticomm
        were able to hang on.
    2.  Most sysops never learned how to market (ie. advertise), and gave up
        when their callers dropped to nothing.
    3.  Door game authors still produce nothing but text/ansi based games. 
        Why play those when Flash/Macromedia games exist and are more
        pleasing to the eye?  I don't mean to demean door authors with this 
        statement.  It's just a statement of fact.

If you notice I didn't place any of the blame on users, you are correct. 
It's not their fault they abandoned BBS's.  It's _OUR_ fault for not changing
and adapting to the times.

Do I have any users?  Nope.  Just me.  Why?  Because I only use this system
for myself.  I do this for myself...not for anyone else.  It's _MY_ hobby. 
My wife thinks it's a crazy hobby, and I can't hardly blame her.  :-)

Have Fun!  Sorry for the long rant.

Darryl
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