Questions.

[Slim]

1. First, what are we looking at in terms of cost to get a ~50 user BBS running with this newfangled TA? You said "similar to TA2" but I don't see that price listed anywhere.


2. Second, are you going sell keys tied to illegit WG Reg#s? Seriously, the rights to sell WG are so muddied there's no way you can be sure you are purchasing a legitimate license.


3. Finally, if you were doing such an extensive rewrite, why relegate yourself to the long dead and let's face it, total crap WG platform?

TA would benefit greatly from a Perl/PHP/SQL http implementation, instead of being tied to the archaic telnet protocol.

That's it,

Slim

[Drex]

2. Second, are you going sell keys tied to illegit WG Reg#s? Seriously, the rights to sell WG are so muddied there's no way you can be sure you are purchasing a legitimate license.

Slim

I highly doubt the code will be sold to Illegit board, quite sure they will be not, this is a legit board, do some reding in other sections as to who owns the rights.

[Slim]

do some reding in other sections as to who owns the rights.

Except anyone with a keygen can claim they own the rights to sell licenses; and we all know they aren't rare.

Is there a proof of sale posted somewhere from Galacticomm?

[Drex]

The only legitimate person who can sell it is me. There will be an announcement soon about the software being widely available again.

From thread:

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

[Questman]

Slim,

I have Galacticomm's customer records. If I don't find you in them, I don't sell to you. That's what is different from the pirates with keygens. Generally speaking all they have is a 256 user keygen - most people don't have those licenses legitimately.

[VeNoM]

265 users.. Ouch, that would have been expensive!!

[Slim]

Slim,

I have Galacticomm's customer records. If I don't find you in them, I don't sell to you. That's what is different from the pirates with keygens. Generally speaking all they have is a 256 user keygen - most people don't have those licenses legitimately.

I meant the ability to sell WG, not TA. Both you and Netvillage claim the rights to sell it, and I'm sure Netvillage has the GComm customer records as well; so that is small proof of ownership. I'm sure you can see why someone looking to spend any significant amount of money on software would be skeptical given the circumstances. Especially with Netvillage in possession of the GComm domain and all, and you are a random guy with a forum.

Also, you make it sound like you won't be selling WG at all, is that the case?

As for TA, I'm not sure how you'd prove ownership, except with some kind of notarized letter from Sean transferring the rights to you.

But if yours is a complete rewrite, and none of Sean's work remains, I don't think I'd worry too much on that.


What about my other questions?

[Malakai]

Slim, that's an easy one.. Just get a lawyer, have them subpoena the records from both people, and then post those records online for the world to see. Tell the lawyer that you have a vested interest in the owners because you are considering making a substantial business investment and don't know who to trust. That may give you access if there are sealed records.

Let us know how it goes

LOL

[Questman]

You can verify my ownership very easily by searching court records in the state of Florida, and searching SEC records on EDGAR related to the Galacticomm IPO that confirms that first lien was to the bank and there was a risk of repossession. Since I purchased the rights from the bank, that would make me the sole rightful owner. In fact, in the final court ruling the court instructed those who made off with assets to return them, and for the police to go get them if they didn't. Of course, NV moved out of state where the court's ruling couldn't be enforced.

For the add-ons it's much easier. I have signed contracts with every ISV I purchase. I have a signed contract with the bank, too, but it requires the chain to be researched to 'prove' it. I have all the documents that 'prove' it, though. And no, I don't publicly post the ISV contracts for many reasons, including privacy.

The domain name is hardly proof of ownership. Back in the late 90s it was extremely easy to 'steal' domain names. Just send an e-mail to a processing account and voila. They changed to a different host just before the end, and took advantage of that when they made off with the assets. Just changed the DNS again, and done.

So I may be a guy with a forum, but I'm also a guy with the rights.

It is up to you if you wish to spend ridiculous amounts with NetVillage for a license I do not recognize.

As for your other questions, thank you for saying the platform is crap. I will probably sell new licenses - I have sold a few for people who have been in need - and they are not expensive. In fact, if I were able to recoup what I paid for the rights to Galacticomm, I would probably open source it and make the base server a community project.

A rewrite into another platform for the games is time consuming and ultimately something that would have to be determined based upon interest. Right now, there has been little interest in any of the Galacticomm-based products anywhere else, so that is not something I will focus my limited time on.

[Slim]

Interesting, I will look into it when I have the time. You still haven't mentioned any actual prices though, is there a reason for this?

Don't take my crap comment out of context; WG was a nice platform in its prime, but by today's standards it is a relic. I suppose that tends to happen when development stops for 10+ years though.

Anyway, thank you for addressing my potentially contentious questions constructively and amiably.

Slim

[Stoneslinger76]

So I may be a guy with a forum, but I'm also a guy with the rights.

[Questman]

Interesting, I will look into it when I have the time. You still haven't mentioned any actual prices though, is there a reason for this?

Yes. In some cases I was asked not to share, and in other cases, I'd rather not. In the context of what it was from 1987-1997, it was very cheap. But it was still in the thousands.

Don't take my crap comment out of context; WG was a nice platform in its prime, but by today's standards it is a relic. I suppose that tends to happen when development stops for 10+ years though.

I understand. And I wish I could hire developers to upgrade, oh, everything within it (I agree that while it still has almost all the relevant internet services, they're all out of date). But nobody's buying.

Anyway, thank you for addressing my potentially contentious questions constructively and amiably.

No problem. Unfortunately, I get these questions often.

[dspain]

1. First, what are we looking at in terms of cost to get a ~50 user BBS running with this newfangled TA? You said "similar to TA2" but I don't see that price listed anywhere.


2. Second, are you going sell keys tied to illegit WG Reg#s? Seriously, the rights to sell WG are so muddied there's no way you can be sure you are purchasing a legitimate license.


3. Finally, if you were doing such an extensive rewrite, why relegate yourself to the long dead and let's face it, total crap WG platform?

TA would benefit greatly from a Perl/PHP/SQL http implementation, instead of being tied to the archaic telnet protocol.

That's it,

Slim

1. the new tele-arena is designed to be hosted by some systems who dont have 256 user counts to keep it affordable to sysops with a smaller userbase. it now comes in 25,50,100,256 user licenses.

2. i will only sell to sysops i can confirm are legitimate buyers. the keygens outthere are for 256 users and lets face it of everyone with a 256 user bbs who actually paid the tons of thousands for it? worldgroup 2.0 256 user with full ico connectivety was over 12,000 so 3.20 wasnt any cheaper, i think the last official released price sheet was $9,995
with the new owner those prices will come way down and reg#s are being issued in a specific sequence to tell em apart.

3. yes its not just a nextensive rewrite its a complete rewrite only modeled after the original, all new code.
i have a base platform of tele-arena i wrote in .net called it tele-arena.net and scrapped it after getting the base server and client communications done, i decided a game like TA needs to stay where it was born, to write a totally new game would be exactly that a totally new game.
the name itself Tele-Arena goes back to its roots as a tele-game.
i have plans to do a mud engine in .net but wanna finish TA first.

[dspain]

do some reding in other sections as to who owns the rights.

Except anyone with a keygen can claim they own the rights to sell licenses; and we all know they aren't rare.

Is there a proof of sale posted somewhere from Galacticomm?

yeah but most those keygens are 256 user keygens and Gcomm actually had a system they used when generating licenses so typing in a random reg# and getting a code is very easily read through.

[dspain]

265 users.. Ouch, that would have been expensive!!

not just expensive VERY expensive.

10-15k pending on what addons you wanted.

TA was one of the cheapest addons at $199 for the core and $100 for the editor.

[dspain]

Slim,

I have Galacticomm's customer records. If I don't find you in them, I don't sell to you. That's what is different from the pirates with keygens. Generally speaking all they have is a 256 user keygen - most people don't have those licenses legitimately.

I meant the ability to sell WG, not TA. Both you and Netvillage claim the rights to sell it, and I'm sure Netvillage has the GComm customer records as well; so that is small proof of ownership. I'm sure you can see why someone looking to spend any significant amount of money on software would be skeptical given the circumstances. Especially with Netvillage in possession of the GComm domain and all, and you are a random guy with a forum.

Also, you make it sound like you won't be selling WG at all, is that the case?

As for TA, I'm not sure how you'd prove ownership, except with some kind of notarized letter from Sean transferring the rights to you.

But if yours is a complete rewrite, and none of Sean's work remains, I don't think I'd worry too much on that.


What about my other questions?

absolute complete rewrite but i still have to follow licensing restrictions cause of the name,theme,etc.......

[dspain]

Interesting, I will look into it when I have the time. You still haven't mentioned any actual prices though, is there a reason for this?

Don't take my crap comment out of context; WG was a nice platform in its prime, but by today's standards it is a relic. I suppose that tends to happen when development stops for 10+ years though.

Anyway, thank you for addressing my potentially contentious questions constructively and amiably.

Slim

your questions are expected, too bad other companies out there are making it this difficult, and still trying to make 6 figures off of it.