Possibilities - APCUG's GlobalNet BBS - The User Group Connection

Contact:   eSoft, Inc. (Makers of TBBS)
           15200 E. Girard Ave., Suite 3000
           Aurora, CO  80014
           (303) 699-6565      Voice
           (303) 699-6872      Fax
           (303) 699-8222      BBS
           support@esoft.com   E-Mail

APCUG'S GLOBALNET BBS - THE USER GROUP CONNECTION
-------------------------------------------------

*** From January 1991 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1991 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

APCUG's GlobalNet BBS -- The User Group Connection
by Alan Bechtold

Many people are only able to use a computer to solve their problems because 
of what they learn from a local PC user group.  These user groups have been 
a major force in the history of personal computing.  Many of the 
developments which have propelled personal computing to its current level of 
importance began in user groups.

The user group environment fosters and supports innovation.  By sharing 
information with other PC users, group members are exposed to knowledge that 
is otherwise difficult to obtain.  They also draw energy from the group to 
tackle tasks they otherwise would never attempt.

The Association of PC User Groups (APCUG) is a non-profit organization which 
was formed to extend this concept to user groups themselves.  A user group 
which belongs to APCUG shares information not only with its own members, but 
with the members of many of the largest user groups in the world.  As a 
"user group of user groups" APCUG leverages the information sharing concept 
to new heights.

APCUG is dedicated to knocking down walls.  While its primary purpose is to 
bring PC user groups around the world together, APCUG has also successfully 
brought PC user groups together with the growing body of industry software 
and hardware vendors interested in reaching them.

As with many non-profit organizations, APCUG is run entirely by volunteers.  
Some of its funding comes from the small yearly membership fees it levies on 
PC user group members.  But APCUG owes its existence to a select group of 
corporate sponsors who provide additional funding, equipment, facilities and 
personnel to help the group attain its goals.

Thanks to those sponsors, APCUG was able to expand its efforts to bring PC 
user groups together when it launched the APCUG GlobalNet BBS approximately 
two years ago.  The BBS has extended the group's reach, offering their 
members the chance to exchange public domain software disks, newsletters and 
general information from around the world.

GlobalNet recently made telecommunications history by conducting the first 
live real-time BBS teleconference in the world between participants in the 
USSR, the USA and Canada.  The live exchange was conducted during the First 
International Computer Forum in Moscow and was observed by about two hundred 
attendees who watched the proceedings via a three-beam projector and large 
screen.

This historic session was carried out on APCUG's GlobalNet BBS, using TBBS' 
live online chat feature.  The exchange was an historic example of the way 
technology has helped knock down walls between countries, cultures and their 
people.  APCUG system operators, who won a race with Apple Corporation to be 
first with such a conference, say they couldn't have pulled off the 
monumental exchange without TBBS.

The equipment, facilities and expenses for GlobalNet are provided by 
Borland, Pacific Bell, Intel PCEO, Dell Computer Corporation, and BT Tymnet.  
Together, these companies provided the hardware, software, telephone lines, 
packet switched lines, physical location for the BBS and incidental cash to 
keep it running.

The system uses TBBS 2.1M software and runs on a Dell 325 microcomputer (25 
Mhz 80386 CPU) with a SY-TOS 150 mb internal tape drive and a 325 mb hard 
disk drive.  Sixteen incoming lines accommodate the system's callers.

While eight of the lines are standard dial-up telephone lines -- set up in 
rotation from a single phone number -- the other eight terminate packet-
switched lines, which users can reach by calling their local Tymnet access 
number.  BT Tymnet provided the Tymnet microengine and all of the corporate 
sponsors split the bill for Tymnet charges so member user group officers can 
call the system without incurring long-distance or communications charges.

The results of GlobalNet have indeed been historic.  Behind these results, 
however, is an interesting and instructive story of hard working, dedicated 
volunteers with a vision who made it all happen.

APCUG began building GlobalNet using "The Major BBS" software from 
Gallacticom.  This system was their BBS for the first eighteen months.  
While it allowed multi-line operation, they received a lot of complaints at 
the 1989 COMDEX APCUG meeting about the system's user interface.  Callers 
reported they were having trouble getting around on the system and asked for 
a system that was easier to understand.

That was when APCUG BBS co-sysop Paul Curtis decided a change was in order.  
He called a special meeting of selected co-sysops and corporate sponsors to 
discuss changes he felt the users wanted.  Paul pointed out that usage 
wasn't climbing at a satisfactory rate.  He felt this was due to the fact 
that the current BBS software wasn't easy enough to use.

"I was prepared to spend one entire day figuring out ways to adjust our 
present system to better meet the needs of our users," Curtis said.  "Then 
the question was put to me, 'if we start again from scratch, will you be 
willing to keep running the system?'  I answered I would stick with it and 
do whatever needed to be done."

This changed the meeting's agenda from improving the present system to 
deciding which new software to use to create a completely new APCUG BBS.

"We started looking at a variety of systems," said Paul.  "We did that by 
hauling in a large monitor and hooking it up to a laptop, modem and phone 
line.  Then we just started calling BBSs around the country.

"Al Kinney, from Intel PCEO, suggested we call his company's TBBS customer 
support board.  I wasn't too impressed with the interface Intel had designed 
for their system, but Al said, 'Let's just call the eSoft Support BBS and 
get a look at the system from the point of view of the designers of the 
software.'

"We called the TBBS support board and I saw what Phil had done with the 
software.  I noticed it was completely different from Intel's interface and 
that's all I needed to know.  It was then I realized that it didn't matter 
if I liked one TBBS system's interface or another one's.  I could design my 
own from scratch.  That's what sold me on TBBS."

A few telephone conversations later, eSoft and Digiboard Corporation became 
APCUG GlobalNet BBS corporate sponsors too, providing all the software and 
additional Digiboard hardware APCUG needed to set up a new TBBS-based 
system.  This is the user group dynamic at work -- face a problem as a group 
and find a way to solve it, even if there is no money available!

The new system soon started taking shape, and the user group philosophy came 
into play again.  One of TBBS' strengths is its ability to be designed 
around a fully customized concept and GlobalNet required that capability.

Paul feels it's always important to consider any other telecommunications 
systems your callers have become used to when designing your own system.  
"In the end, we decided that, since most user groups around the country run 
RBBS, PC BOARD or WILDCAT on their own BBSs, we should design our TBBS to 
mimic, as closely as possible, many of the aspects of those other systems," 
Paul said.

Paul got together with the other three APCUG BBS co-sysops after they had 
all the hardware and software for their new system.  "Richard Sabin (an 
APCUG BBS co-sysop) sat down and figured out what every keystroke should be 
throughout the entire system," Paul said.  "Then we designed a frame, 
consisting of a double-line border, that would go around most of our menus, 
giving them all a common appearance throughout the system.

"I designed the screens themselves.  Richard worked on the menus, and Jim 
Moody (another APCUG co-sysop) worked on the file directories.  We spent 
several long weekends locked in a room having discussions about what we 
wanted to accomplish before the design phase was done."

For Paul, an important menu design consideration was keeping the users 
informed of where they were on the system at all times.  "In the upper 
right-hand corner of the screen we always tell the user what menu they're in 
and in the upper left-hand corner we always tell the user what section of 
the system they're in," Paul said.  "This way, no matter where users are on 
the system, they can always figure out either how to get back to the main 
menu or forward to the next menu."

All the careful planning resulted in a new APCUG BBS, with an interface that 
provided a nice even comfortable feel to the users.  TBBS was the key, 
providing APCUG the necessary tools to carry out its extensive system 
reorganization plan.

Paul said, "We started out using Medit but quickly found out that it wasn't 
going to be able to do what we wanted.  We then literally took SDL to the 
limit of menus that could be configured."

According to Paul, the APCUG system has always been popular, but the number 
of active users has dramatically increased after the switch to TBBS.  Paul 
considers the new system a complete success.  "We wound up with a system 
that actually got compliments when we went to this year's Comdex -- the 
exact opposite of what we got the previous year."

Here Paul is being modest.  Philippe Kahn of Borland personally presented 
Paul, Jim, Al, Richard and the others who built GlobalNet with special 
awards at a COMDEX breakfast meeting held for that purpose.  Along with 
Jerry Schneider (APCUG's founder) they conducted a panel discussion about 
GlobalNet's past and future for the user group presidents in attendance.

Since they brought the new system online, the APCUG GlobalNet BBS has 
attracted nearly 10,000 callers and their message base holds more than 
10,000 messages.  Those numbers are increasing daily.

Even more important is the global reach they've now attained.  Without TBBS, 
the ground-breaking live international online teleconference might never 
have been attempted.  With TBBS, the group is already taking steps to extend 
its global reach.

"What we're going to do is build four more complete TBBS systems that will 
actually be mirror images of the Scotts Valley GlobalNet system," Curtis 
said.  "Each of these new systems will be placed in different locations 
around the world and they'll each have a similar layout, they'll all be 
fundamentally the same BBS."

These systems will be located in Japan, England, Australia and France.  The 
systems in Japan and England will be housed at Intel facilities and the 
systems in Australia and France will be housed at facilities provided by 
Borland International.

Using TBBS' electronic mail transfer option module TIMS (The Integrated Mail 
System), the four systems will be linked to the APCUG BBS in California, the 
Moscow Users Group BBS in Russia and to one another.  This network will 
allow a user in Paris, for example, to leave e-mail addressed to a user on 
any of the other systems and have it automatically delivered -- receiving 
any replies on their own TBBS GlobalNet system.

Paul smiles when talking about this portion of his group's BBS plans.  "The 
whole point of this, of course, is to open the system up to a whole lot of 
folks."  There's that user group thinking at work again.

Paul points out that the group likes to have their bulletin board systems 
installed at corporate sponsor facilities because then, if one of the sysops 
or even the entire volunteer "staff" should move on, they still have a 
solid, permanently established location.  The corporate installations are 
also more secure, since they are inside guarded corporate headquarters 
buildings.

"Our system at Borland's Scotts Valley location is provided fire protection 
and is, for example, connected to one of the most expensive uninterruptable 
power supplies available anywhere."

Because of its secure location, the Scotts Valley APCUG TBBS was able to 
survive the San Francisco earthquake.  The system is located about a mile 
from the quake's epicenter.  After the earthquake, the system went off-line 
because the power and telephone lines were down.  "As soon as the power and 
telephone lines were connected again the system was right back up and 
running," Curtis said.  "The computer literally auto-booted and brought the 
system back online by itself."

Naturally, since the systems are all physically located inside corporate 
facilities, they are often miles away from the sysops and co-sysops who run 
them.  For this reason, APCUG's system operators all rely heavily on SYSOM, 
the TBBS remote system operator option module.  This allows them to perform 
system maintenance while they are remotely connected to the system, without 
having to drop callers off of other lines.

TDBS, the dBase language compatible option module that brings the power of 
true relational database programming to TBBS, will also soon be put to some 
innovative uses on the APCUG GlobalNet BBS.

"We plan to start using TDBS for both user group and member registrations," 
Paul said.  "The User Group registration system will allow our member groups 
to call in and list important information about their groups, including 
officers' names, phone numbers, BBS numbers, mailing addresses, that sort of 
thing.  They'll also be able to list their meeting agendas, special interest 
groups, meeting dates and times and more.

"What we want to do is establish a system where people who are traveling can 
access the database and quickly determine where and when user group meetings 
of interest will be taking place, wherever the users are or plan to be, by 
looking them up according to their zip code or area code.

"We're also setting up a database for special interest groups within the 
various user groups.  This could be used, for example, to find out where all 
the Windows special interest groups are and when they meet.  We want vendors 
to have this information, too, so they can more easily participate in user 
group meetings directed at their special products.  They'll have all the 
right telephone numbers and names of the right people to speak to at their 
fingertips."

The database access menu options are already in place on the APCUG BBS and 
development of the TDBS programs should be completed soon.  APCUG member 
user groups and vendors agree the TDBS programs, coupled with the other 
applications of TBBS technology that APCUG takes advantage of, will unite 
user groups worldwide as they have never been united before.

GlobalNet truly embodies the spirit of APCUG that Jerry Schneider had in 
mind when he started the organization.  By creating a user group for user 
groups the power of association has been expanded to a new level.  
Electronic association makes that contact constant, regardless of physical 
location.

APCUG invites all TBBS system operators to give their BBS a call and see the 
system in action.  The telephone number of GlobalNet is 408-439-9367.

- END - 
PS0191-3
Rev. 1/91

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
to distribute this file in its entirety, without modification, to any
interested party.  Any other use requires the written permission of
eSoft, Inc.

IMPORTANT:  The information herein is subject to change without notice.
Please call or write to confirm factual information of importance to you
or your organization.

