Galacticomm, Inc. was created by Tim Stryker in order to showcase his revolutionary Galacticomm Software Breakthrough Library (GSBL). The GSBL was designed to allow multiple connections to a single system allowing an unparalleled amount of simultaneous user connections well before the dawn of the Internet.
The GSBL became the cornerstone of The Major BBS and Worldgroup products eventually allowing these systems to have up to 256 users connected at any one time. The GSBL was also licensed for use in banking and communications systems.
Tim Stryker was the mastermind behind the GSBL, The Major BBS and Worldgroup and we pay tribute to him. Unfortunately Tim took his own life in August 1996 and from that point on the Galacticomm, Inc. brand and vision started to decline rapidly which ultimately led to his wife selling the company. A failed Initial Public Offering (IPO) occured in 1998 and the bank eventually foreclosed acquiring the company’s assets in 2002.
In 2005, Rick Hadsall of Elwynor Technologies (a MBBS/WG ISV) purchased the assets from the bank and held them until they were acquired by this site. We thank Rick for his ongoing commitment to preserving one of the most significant pieces of pre-internet communication history.
The Major BBS
The early realeases of The Major BBS were initially designed to showcase the power of the GSBL, however as the popularity of BBSes increased across the world, The Major BBS developed into a product in it’s own right and ultimately became the main product line for Galacticomm, Inc.
The system became one of the most populare software platforms on which to run a host and offered options such as Email, Teleconference and Online Games. Users could connect using a variety of methods such as dial-up, X.25, IPX and later Telnet.
Between 1986 and 1994 there was a number of releases of The Major BBS, from version 1 (never released to the public) to version 6. Version 6.25 was the last version branded as The Major BBS. All versions ran on the DOS operating system with some versions supporting Novell NetWare (5.3) and Unix (6.25).
Worldgroup
In 1995 Galacticomm, Inc. tried to reposition itself in the market and developed a client-server model version which it named Worldgroup Server. This version allowed users to connect to a Worldgroup server using thr Worldgroup Manager application rather than the traditional text-based approach. Worldgroup Server v1 and v2 remained DOS based and were developed between 1995 and 1996 with Worldgroup Server v3 (A 32-bit based Windows Server version) being released in 1997.
Although the architecture changed the options available (such as Email, Teleconference, etc) remained and additional products were offered such as WWW access via a Worldgroup Server connection.