War of Worlds Newbie Question

[Ancient Mariner]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the BBS revival scene, but ran WWIV and Synchronet back before the internet got cool in '95. Some friends of mine around the office have fond memories of War of Worlds and Infinity Complex, and want to set up a small-time telnet server.

Looking around the Major BBS site and forums, I'm not sure what I need to set this up nor how to go about getting it. Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-AM-

[frcorey]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the BBS revival scene, but ran WWIV and Synchronet back before the internet got cool in '95. Some friends of mine around the office have fond memories of War of Worlds and Infinity Complex, and want to set up a small-time telnet server.

Looking around the Major BBS site and forums, I'm not sure what I need to set this up nor how to go about getting it. Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-AM-

contact Questman here and he can fix you up.

[Ancient Mariner]

Thanks!

[Drex]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the BBS revival scene, but ran WWIV and Synchronet back before the internet got cool in '95. Some friends of mine around the office have fond memories of War of Worlds and Infinity Complex, and want to set up a small-time telnet server.

Looking around the Major BBS site and forums, I'm not sure what I need to set this up nor how to go about getting it. Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-AM-

contact Questman here and he can fix you up.

I didn't think Rick was selling copies of WG??

[frcorey]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the BBS revival scene, but ran WWIV and Synchronet back before the internet got cool in '95. Some friends of mine around the office have fond memories of War of Worlds and Infinity Complex, and want to set up a small-time telnet server.

Looking around the Major BBS site and forums, I'm not sure what I need to set this up nor how to go about getting it. Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-AM-

contact Questman here and he can fix you up.

I didn't think Rick was selling copies of WG??

well, he said the banks said that he owns mbbs and worldgroup.

[Questman]

I do. I'm working on setting up a partnership with someone that will allow me to start selling new licenses and there will be some basic support with it.

As for Infinity Complex, it's only available for the DOS versions right now.

[Toyduck]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the BBS revival scene, but ran WWIV and Synchronet back before the internet got cool in '95. Some friends of mine around the office have fond memories of War of Worlds and Infinity Complex, and want to set up a small-time telnet server.

Looking around the Major BBS site and forums, I'm not sure what I need to set this up nor how to go about getting it. Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-AM-

Until you get your own system set up, there are several 24/7 BBS systems you and your friends can logon too for free to play War of Worlds and Infinity Complex.

I host WOW and Galacticwars as well as Tradewars, if you want a new game started let me know.

www.quicksilvermbbs.com

[Molignar]

contact Questman here and he can fix you up.

I didn't think Rick was selling copies of WG??

well, he said the banks said that he owns mbbs and worldgroup.

Yeah well saying you own something and being able to prove it are two different things. Unless you can be given physical proof like oh I dunno something with a signature on it of the sale and a person at this "bank" you can verify it with I'd be pretty skepticle of handing over a dime.

[Stoneslinger76]

Yeah well saying you own something and being able to prove it are two different things. Unless you can be given physical proof like oh I dunno something with a signature on it of the sale and a person at this "bank" you can verify it with I'd be pretty skepticle of handing over a dime.

You should really back your accusation with facts, or do you ask every software vendor for proof of ownership before a purchase.
Questman can backup what he says, and from the research I have done on the SEC and State of Florida courts he does own it.

[Molignar]

Yeah well saying you own something and being able to prove it are two different things. Unless you can be given physical proof like oh I dunno something with a signature on it of the sale and a person at this "bank" you can verify it with I'd be pretty skepticle of handing over a dime.

You should really back your accusation with facts, or do you ask every software vendor for proof of ownership before a purchase.
Questman can backup what he says, and from the research I have done on the SEC and State of Florida courts he does own it.

You bet I do when it comes to MBBS/WG and all the stuff thats been surrounding it. First Rick owns it, then Nate owns it, then no-one knows who owns it. Every email I ever send asking for some paper proof (which a person would have) gets ignored or I get told to go find it myself (Which I've been doing and continue to do). So yeah. I question the validity of it and until I see 100% proof from whoever claims to own it I'll keep questioning it. So should everyone else. You should NOT have to do your own "research" to find it out. A legitimate owner would have NO PROBLEM providing it to you. I don't see why it is so hard to get some piece of paper or anything to settle this matter once and for all.

[Drex]

Have you read this topic?

http://www.themajorbbs.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=3080

[Molignar]

I just did, thank you for the link. It's leaves ALOT to be desired however in the form of any proof and it still leaves me with a few questions. You might think I'm being anal with this but it's totally not meant to be. I'm just trying to do my due diligence. I see Questman mentions he had the help of a lawyer to buy up the assets. Thats great! A Lawyer, thats a person I can pick up a phone and call and ask questions to. So what would be the chances of someone giving me the name of the lawyer? Sorry I can't help it, I'm skepticle by nature. I know a couple people who paid netvillage both kidneys for a copy of WG only to find out later it wasn't legit. Things like this totally kill any confidence there is in buying current or future editions of the software. Also leaving the legal issues for later until monies been made? Thats basically doing the same thing netvillage is. Heck anyone could do that if theres a case of no real way to prove it. It's not hard to get a keygen and sell a keygened copy. Warez sites do it to unsuspecting people all the time. I get that this is an effort to restore the software but leaving the legal issues hanging is what will kill it in the end when one angry buyer decides he wants his day in court.

[dspain]

Yeah well saying you own something and being able to prove it are two different things. Unless you can be given physical proof like oh I dunno something with a signature on it of the sale and a person at this "bank" you can verify it with I'd be pretty skepticle of handing over a dime.

You should really back your accusation with facts, or do you ask every software vendor for proof of ownership before a purchase.
Questman can backup what he says, and from the research I have done on the SEC and State of Florida courts he does own it.

You bet I do when it comes to MBBS/WG and all the stuff thats been surrounding it. First Rick owns it, then Nate owns it, then no-one knows who owns it. Every email I ever send asking for some paper proof (which a person would have) gets ignored or I get told to go find it myself (Which I've been doing and continue to do). So yeah. I question the validity of it and until I see 100% proof from whoever claims to own it I'll keep questioning it. So should everyone else. You should NOT have to do your own "research" to find it out. A legitimate owner would have NO PROBLEM providing it to you. I don't see why it is so hard to get some piece of paper or anything to settle this matter once and for all.

so if you send bill.gate@microsoft.com an email saying prove you own microsoft he will replay? no he won't.
why should anyone prove they "own" a piece of software? buy it or dont.

[dspain]

I just did, thank you for the link. It's leaves ALOT to be desired however in the form of any proof and it still leaves me with a few questions. You might think I'm being anal with this but it's totally not meant to be. I'm just trying to do my due diligence. I see Questman mentions he had the help of a lawyer to buy up the assets. Thats great! A Lawyer, thats a person I can pick up a phone and call and ask questions to. So what would be the chances of someone giving me the name of the lawyer? Sorry I can't help it, I'm skepticle by nature. I know a couple people who paid netvillage both kidneys for a copy of WG only to find out later it wasn't legit. Things like this totally kill any confidence there is in buying current or future editions of the software. Also leaving the legal issues for later until monies been made? Thats basically doing the same thing netvillage is. Heck anyone could do that if theres a case of no real way to prove it. It's not hard to get a keygen and sell a keygened copy. Warez sites do it to unsuspecting people all the time. I get that this is an effort to restore the software but leaving the legal issues hanging is what will kill it in the end when one angry buyer decides he wants his day in court.

actually that lawyer cannot answer a single question, its breach of confidentiality agreements and would end his career.
i understand your frustrations, but this isnt a warez community, its a public forum with him broadcasting he owns it.
if netvillage or anyone else had a problem with it they would shut him down.
keygens can be used i agree totally, however here you can cross-reference the original gcomm customer list against any system before purchasing.
something that cannot be downloaded, its actually a database.
and the keygen copies floating around are all 256 user, lets be real worldgroup 2.0 256 user, with galico were over 12,000 dollars, yet people ebay it for whatever they can get?????

so 3.20 with 256 user was quite high too, the ones that are legit are theo nes that can provide you not just with reg# but also a customer number and a sale I.D, and a majority of the small bbs's werent 256 user either.
the keygen floating around is only 256, input any reg# ya want and it spits out an act code for 256 users.

im actually working on a better system that changes that around a bit and have talked with several people about elicensing solutions.


i understand it gets confusing but noone is gonna give you copies of signed banking contracts, and i know word of mouth isnt much but not even the bank will disclose terms or names from signed deals.

[Molignar]

I'm not looking for him to give me info that would ruin his career. Just something to refer me to where I could find the legally listed ownership. Your right I'm frustrated for many reasons which I won't go into here. I see though that I'm obviously going about this the wrong way seeing as I'm only interested in one person answering these questions and it's obvious he won't. Look I get what you guys are trying to do, I really do. However I can't agree with the way everyone here seems to toss aside the people who got ripped off. It's really easy for you to say too bad for them because it wasn't your money that was taken. I'm really sorry I wasted this forums time with this, and my own for that matter. Honestly I was expecting a little more but that's fine. I just hope when it comes to people who got ripped off with this you guys will be a little more understanding than you've been with me.

[dspain]

I'm not looking for him to give me info that would ruin his career. Just something to refer me to where I could find the legally listed ownership. Your right I'm frustrated for many reasons which I won't go into here. I see though that I'm obviously going about this the wrong way seeing as I'm only interested in one person answering these questions and it's obvious he won't. Look I get what you guys are trying to do, I really do. However I can't agree with the way everyone here seems to toss aside the people who got ripped off. It's really easy for you to say too bad for them because it wasn't your money that was taken. I'm really sorry I wasted this forums time with this, and my own for that matter. Honestly I was expecting a little more but that's fine. I just hope when it comes to people who got ripped off with this you guys will be a little more understanding than you've been with me.

trust me you're not the only one, several people here purchased their wg licenses from worldgroupware.com, all they get is a cd-r in the mail. (wtf???)
not very professional and a bit sketchy in my opinion but they did purchase as anyone would through the internet searching as well as gcomm.com, rick understands he doesnt "toss" em aside but also gotta look at it from his point of view.
you know how many people "claim" to have bought from here or there.
its a slow process of rebuilding this product, and that is precisely why Rick isnt all gung-ho about selling right now, gotta get all the ducks in order, im just a developer and i write patches of code to update the WG client so im glad im not the one that has to deal with the selling and licensing, but your frustration isnt alone alot of people got hosed.

were you an original buyer of mbbs/wg? if so PM me a little bit of info and ill see about getting you restored, if not and wnna buy a system i can prolly get ya hooked up as well.

[Questman]

Actually, his frustrations are quite understandable as they mirror mine.

The facts are that people have been screwed by MBBS/WG from the mid-90s on and that's not a bruise that heals easily.

- Stryker took a sabbatical from the company ~1995. The Internet was coming, the company wasn't the same w/o his leadership, and frankly, he sort of held on to the BBS thing too long when he should have in 1994 seen the light and gotten it positioned to take advantage and be a player in the Internet boom. He could have, for example, steered them to develop a hypertext client for the BBS - Searchlight BBS did this, but without the links. Instead, the company kept releasing "new major release" products that weren't, really, and charging a lot of money for it. Sysops were getting hammered
- Stryker commits suicide - a tragic loss - in 1996, and the company is in disarray. More sales of new worldgroup "major revisions", more upgrades to addons, etc.
- Sale of the company to Tessier. Tessier wasn't popular with nearly anyone - he had a lot of pressure on him from his investors, too - there wasn't a focus, more sales of expensive upgrades, and stuff was getting lost and people were getting angry
- Company goes bankrupt, they get evicted, the IPO fails, they moved into temporary borrowed office space, one of the investors steals everything relevant and has everything else thrown out, the bank tries to foreclose and the judge issues an order for anyone in possession of the materials to return them or risk arrest
- NetVillage is setup... in Maryland, out of judge's jurisdiction and away from the several hundred thousand owed to the bank to legitimately buy what they stole
- 8 years later, I learn that Union Planters Bank (now Regions Bank) had indeed foreclosed and obtained the rights to Galacticomm in total. I corroborated their claim to ownership with SEC filings by Tessier's Galacticomm stating that that lien was primary. So I offered this information to NetVillage who refused to pay for it and didn't care that they weren't legit.
- So I bought it. I worked with Union Planters' lawyer who handled it for them, and a property manager within Regions bank.

If you want names or scans of documents, you'll have to contact me privately and I want to understand your intentions. It isn't necessarily a good thing to have dozens of people contacting these folks at their place of business just to verify the ownership of software 13 years aged.

[dspain]

Actually, his frustrations are quite understandable as they mirror mine.

The facts are that people have been screwed by MBBS/WG from the mid-90s on and that's not a bruise that heals easily.

- Stryker took a sabbatical from the company ~1995. The Internet was coming, the company wasn't the same w/o his leadership, and frankly, he sort of held on to the BBS thing too long when he should have in 1994 seen the light and gotten it positioned to take advantage and be a player in the Internet boom. He could have, for example, steered them to develop a hypertext client for the BBS - Searchlight BBS did this, but without the links. Instead, the company kept releasing "new major release" products that weren't, really, and charging a lot of money for it. Sysops were getting hammered
- Stryker commits suicide - a tragic loss - in 1996, and the company is in disarray. More sales of new worldgroup "major revisions", more upgrades to addons, etc.
- Sale of the company to Tessier. Tessier wasn't popular with nearly anyone - he had a lot of pressure on him from his investors, too - there wasn't a focus, more sales of expensive upgrades, and stuff was getting lost and people were getting angry
- Company goes bankrupt, they get evicted, the IPO fails, they moved into temporary borrowed office space, one of the investors steals everything relevant and has everything else thrown out, the bank tries to foreclose and the judge issues an order for anyone in possession of the materials to return them or risk arrest
- NetVillage is setup... in Maryland, out of judge's jurisdiction and away from the several hundred thousand owed to the bank to legitimately buy what they stole
- 8 years later, I learn that Union Planters Bank (now Regions Bank) had indeed foreclosed and obtained the rights to Galacticomm in total. I corroborated their claim to ownership with SEC filings by Tessier's Galacticomm stating that that lien was primary. So I offered this information to NetVillage who refused to pay for it and didn't care that they weren't legit.
- So I bought it. I worked with Union Planters' lawyer who handled it for them, and a property manager within Regions bank.

If you want names or scans of documents, you'll have to contact me privately and I want to understand your intentions. It isn't necessarily a good thing to have dozens of people contacting these folks at their place of business just to verify the ownership of software 13 years aged.

NV still holds an office in FLA, rather its physical or not just advertising the addy in FLA would constitute doing business in that state and would be susceptible to penalties from tat court order as well as severe penalties in back state tax.

just broadcasting a FLA business could ultimately eliminate the problem.