The Major BBS Forums (Archive)

Does NetVillage sell activation codes for World Group 3.3? I lost my code for 3.0. I still have my code for 2.0 though. If they do can you tell me what I am looking at in price? Do I need to give my first born? LOL. I might do that anyway! LOL...
Jeff

You need to contact don barr at worldgroupware (sysop@worldgroupware.com) and see if they have a record of your registration number. The registration number for both worldgroup 2.0 and 3.x will be the same, even though the activation codes will be different. So, give him the reg # of the wg 2.0 one.

If he has a record of you owning the 3.x system, then you can contact rick (questman) on here, and he should be able to set you up.

Actually, just e-mail me directly. I have the customer database.

questman (at) themajorbbs (dot) com.

I'll give you your activation code that you lost.. just send me your reg code, and info (name, address, bbs, etc - that would be on file when you bought it)

painter wrote:Does NetVillage sell activation codes for World Group 3.3? I lost my code for 3.0. I still have my code for 2.0 though. If they do can you tell me what I am looking at in price? Do I need to give my first born? LOL. I might do that anyway! LOL...
Jeff

they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.

Malakai wrote:You need to contact don barr at worldgroupware (sysop@worldgroupware.com) and see if they have a record of your registration number. The registration number for both worldgroup 2.0 and 3.x will be the same, even though the activation codes will be different. So, give him the reg # of the wg 2.0 one.

actually the activation codes from 2.0 ->3.xx differ in string size.
2.0 still uses the 9 character string where 3.12 uses the 2 16 character strings and 3.2/3.3 uses a 16 character string.

4.0 uses http authentication


If he has a record of you owning the 3.x system, then you can contact rick (questman) on here, and he should be able to set you up.

man dont listen to that guy, he doesnt have as many records as he leads you to believe.
he has no record of firechat bbs which was the most popular dial up bbs on the east coast, they went to majorbbs all the way to wg 3.12 before going offline still providing 256 dialup lines til they went to 2,0 then they went down to 60 dial ins and 150 telnets

you'd think someone with that much of a powerful bbs worldgroupware owuld know right? well when mudbbs.org bought em out in 2003 worldgroup would not recognize they were legit even though they had original bill of sale from gcomm in florida and that was back when tim stryker sent you a personalized letter which he signed wlecoming you aboard.

they have a list of codes 'they' have generated basically.
i bought worldgroup 2.0 in summer of 1996 after my son was born and i bought the big daddy with the pretty printed manual and all. bought well over 25 addons over the next few years several from gcomm and viromm and they say they arent saying its not legit they just dont use the dos lists.

bullshit ya know, lol they actually do not know!

if its not in don's infibase he says its not legit

Sounds like all parties need to go to court and have a judge decide who actually owns the rights to worldgroup. Maybe with the state worldgroup is actually in right now, there would be no financial gains (but probably a lot of losses) in going that route, but when/if a company or individual starts thinking worldgroup ever starts to make a comeback, that's when the shit will hit the fan.

I actually don't see a big comeback, not money-wise, in worldgroup, but who knows. There may be a lot of hobbiest sysops or old owners that see there are some new modules out there now and are trying to get their groove on.

If don barr does not actually own worldgroup, it's going to piss me off, however, because he got $75 of my money when I transferred licenses and got a backup copy many years ago. Now that I think about it, he did mention at one time that some one built a key-maker and was illegally distributing keys out to people. I wonder if he was referring to rick?

they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.[/quote]

I found the code. Right in front of me.
I am trying to get the makers of MajorMUD to let me get a old copy of MUD that I have the code too. The file is WCCWG7P7.ZIP.

I have found a lot of old addon's for V6.X and I am trying to get some good copy's so that I can get the C code. When I was looking around I found DOS 3.3, 4.01,5,6,6.1,6.2,6.22. BorlandC V2.0. See what happends when you are a packrat.LOL... I think I will toss most of it though.

Malakai wrote:Sounds like all parties need to go to court and have a judge decide who actually owns the rights to worldgroup. Maybe with the state worldgroup is actually in right now, there would be no financial gains (but probably a lot of losses) in going that route, but when/if a company or individual starts thinking worldgroup ever starts to make a comeback, that's when the shit will hit the fan.

I actually don't see a big comeback, not money-wise, in worldgroup, but who knows. There may be a lot of hobbiest sysops or old owners that see there are some new modules out there now and are trying to get their groove on.

the market actually owuld be more money friendly to buisinesses thats why my idea of a hobby-bbs version would run around $200
with the big bux coming out the bugger coporate builds.

If don barr does not actually own worldgroup, it's going to piss me off, however, because he got $75 of my money when I transferred licenses and got a backup copy many years ago.

Don barr doesnt own it hes affiliated with netvillage i talked to him about doing some fixes on the ftp daemon baseline dll and he sent me to nate
so hes definately not a shot caller.

Now that I think about it, he did mention at one time that some one built a key-maker and was illegally distributing keys out to people. I wonder if he was referring to rick
possibly

rick never made an illegal keymaker he bought all his stuff legit, virogen made a keymaker in 1998 and LZ0 made wg 3.3 cracks and patches.

rick generates authentic codes.

painter wrote:they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.

I found the code. Right in front of me.
I am trying to get the makers of MajorMUD to let me get a old copy of MUD that I have the code too. The file is WCCWG7P7.ZIP.

i got ever version majormud ever made the original installers even the dos versions.
you need a good copy?

I have found a lot of old addon's for V6.X and I am trying to get some good copy's so that I can get the C code. When I was looking around I found DOS 3.3, 4.01,5,6,6.1,6.2,6.22. BorlandC V2.0. See what happends when you are a packrat.LOL... I think I will toss most of it though. [/quote]

i got the dev kits for wg dos they use bc 4.52
the dev kits for 3.xx use bc 5.01

painter wrote:they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.

I found the code. Right in front of me.
I am trying to get the makers of MajorMUD to let me get a old copy of MUD that I have the code too. The file is WCCWG7P7.ZIP.

i got ever version majormud ever made the original installers even the dos versions.
you need a good copy?

I have found a lot of old addon's for V6.X and I am trying to get some good copy's so that I can get the C code. When I was looking around I found DOS 3.3, 4.01,5,6,6.1,6.2,6.22. BorlandC V2.0. See what happends when you are a packrat.LOL... I think I will toss most of it though. [/quote]

i got the dev kits for wg dos they use bc 4.52
the dev kits for 3.xx use bc 5.01

tc 2.01 is what you used to compile your own modules for mbbs v5

i got the dev kits for wg dos they use bc 4.52
the dev kits for 3.xx use bc 5.01

tc 2.01 is what you used to compile your own modules for mbbs v5[/quote]

When I started it was MajorBBS 4.11 and they used TC++ back then. I think I still have a copy. I have been having a problem with my disk's. I guess when they don't get used for a long time they go bad?

Okay... I have my system up I think. I have been having a problem with
World Group program that you give to your users. I am having a problem with the activeX. It gives me a error. I am using Windows XP. Know of anything?

Thanks guys! You have been a BIG help.
Jeff

painter wrote:i got the dev kits for wg dos they use bc 4.52
the dev kits for 3.xx use bc 5.01

tc 2.01 is what you used to compile your own modules for mbbs v5

When I started it was MajorBBS 4.11 and they used TC++ back then. I think I still have a copy. I have been having a problem with my disk's. I guess when they don't get used for a long time they go bad?

Okay... I have my system up I think. I have been having a problem with
World Group program that you give to your users. I am having a problem with the activeX. It gives me a error. I am using Windows XP. Know of anything?

Thanks guys! You have been a BIG help.
Jeff [/quote]

yeah i havent had a chance to fix that yet. until then give me your bbs addy ill send ya the patch.

That's not what I was saying. I'm saying that maybe Don Barr was talking about Rick, since from what you guys are telling me is that Don Barr thinks he owns Worldgroup but really does not. So, if he thinks he owns worldgroup, any one selling worldgroup or generating keys are doing some thing illegal.

Even myself, I was under the impression that Don Barr owned worldgroup, because even the official galacticomm pages years ago had links to his site (worldgroupware).

I know about the DOS thing to, as I had mentioned several months ago on the forum somewhere. I tried to get some codes or user six packs or some thing from one of the DOS worldgroup versions, and he said he didn't have a keymaker but that he did have the source. So, later on myself and several other people tried to convince him to re-sale major bbs or release the source code, because worldgroup was his fortunes, but he refused, stating that by releasing the source code, he would compromise worldgroup 3.xnt that he worked so hard to create. If you really think about it, who in their right minds would want to create a bbs that's only good for databases and such. Keep in mind there were only a handfull of game modules out and being sold at the time, as most of the mod programmers gave up supporting their products at the time, probably majormud and some of the stuff metropolis has.

So, is this how worldgroup went: From what I understand, Galacticomm went completely under, disappeared forever. Then netvillage bought the name (but isn't the same company?) and old website, and it had links to worldgroupware I remember. When I bought worldgroup from the ISP that went under, the only place I could find on the net that I could buy/register worldgroup was worldgroupware.

So, worldgroupware must have officially owned it at that time. So now, Don Barr sells it to some one, and one of the galacticomm companies (The original galacticomm or the netvillage one?) says "hey, this isn't legit. Don Barr, you still own the rights to it."???

So, Don Barr got paid $howmuch? and was still some how considered the owner of worldgroup. OK, now netvillage owns the rights, and don barr owns the rights, and who knows how many people own the rights. OK, maybe rights isn't the correct word, because more than 1 person could probably own the rights with out actually owning the software, depending on how the contract for the sale was written out.

I'm sure I screwed that up, but I gave it my all :/

So, who owns the actual software? Not just selling/distribution rights? Who has the ability to change the title of it, any trademarks, and all credits, with out infringing some one else's copyright bologna?

dspain wrote: rick never made an illegal keymaker he bought all his stuff legit, virogen made a keymaker in 1998 and LZ0 made wg 3.3 cracks and patches.

rick generates authentic codes.

i got ever version majormud ever made the original installers even the dos versions.
you need a good copy?

Yes...Please.... I hope that I can find something that I have that you guy's need or want.

So, is this how worldgroup went: From what I understand, Galacticomm went completely under, disappeared forever. Then netvillage bought the name (but isn't the same company?) and old website, and it had links to worldgroupware I remember. When I bought worldgroup from the ISP that went under, the only place I could find on the net that I could buy/register worldgroup was worldgroupware.

galacticomm - > galacticomm technologies - > yesser[merge] -> bankrupt

netvillage says they bought it from what i "HEAR" they're just another group of people like me wanting to make something better.


So, worldgroupware must have officially owned it at that time. So now, Don Barr sells it to some one, and one of the galacticomm companies (The original galacticomm or the netvillage one?) says "hey, this isn't legit. Don Barr, you still own the rights to it."???

i wont open that pandoras box ill let rick do it.


So, who owns the actual software? Not just selling/distribution rights? Who has the ability to change the title of it, any trademarks, and all credits, with out infringing some one else's copyright bologna?

rick has the power to open source it, change it, sell it, blah blah
i dont have the authority but i do have the ability but something i plan on changing in the very near future is adding my name to the newest releases
and getting a new wg version out there and fits everyones needs not just the 6figure buisinesses, i wanna open the wg bbs market to anyone wanting to go online.

Malakai wrote:Sounds like all parties need to go to court and have a judge decide who actually owns the rights to worldgroup. Maybe with the state worldgroup is actually in right now, there would be no financial gains (but probably a lot of losses) in going that route, but when/if a company or individual starts thinking worldgroup ever starts to make a comeback, that's when the shit will hit the fan.

That's the problem - do you want to pay for the attorneys and court fees?
Trust me, anyone can do the research themselves through court databases to see that there is no legal possibility for Harold Van Arnem and "netVillage" to own anything from Galacticomm, as all of their possessions physical and general intangibles were under lien by the bank, which foreclosed, took ownership, and eventually sold it last year. There was no way for Yannick Tessier and/or Peter Berg to sell off any rights without the bank releasing the liens to those products (as they did for some games that were sold to Metropolis). That never happened.

If don barr does not actually own worldgroup, it's going to piss me off, however, because he got $75 of my money when I transferred licenses and got a backup copy many years ago. Now that I think about it, he did mention at one time that some one built a key-maker and was illegally distributing keys out to people. I wonder if he was referring to rick?

Don Barr never claimed to own Worldgroup. He's just some guy that is friends with Nate Hammond, who claims to be the president of netVillage (which is a trademark of Galacticomms). Nate doesn't even claim ownership, as ownership is claimed by Harold Van Arnem, a known "shady businessman" who seems to have questionable dealings surrounding every venture he's in whether he's found guilty or not...

And no, they were not referring to me. I only started giving keys to people the last few months, after it was legitimate for my doing so. And I actually have all the legal keymakers, not a 256-user-only hack that was pirated years ago.

Don Barr never claimed to own Worldgroup. He's just some guy that is friends with Nate Hammond, who claims to be the president of netVillage (which is a trademark of Galacticomms). Nate doesn't even claim ownership, as ownership is claimed by Harold Van Arnem, a known "shady businessman" who seems to have questionable dealings surrounding every venture he's in whether he's found guilty or not...

they'll take money anyway they can. they thought they could reengineer a great program but all they did was destroy it,



And no, they were not referring to me. I only started giving keys to people the last few months, after it was legitimate for my doing so. And I actually have all the legal keymakers, not a 256-user-only hack that was pirated years ago.[/quote]

metro actually were the ones that shut virogen down for making that key program.
also on their site were the master majormud key generators released by someone who had a hard-on for shannon.

painter wrote: When I started it was MajorBBS 4.11 and they used TC++ back then. I think I still have a copy. I have been having a problem with my disk's. I guess when they don't get used for a long time they go bad?

I'd love to try to read them - would you be willing to ship them to me?
I've been looking for 4.11 for ages - AST Research used to run it.

Malakai wrote: That's not what I was saying. I'm saying that maybe Don Barr was talking about Rick, since from what you guys are telling me is that Don Barr thinks he owns Worldgroup but really does not. So, if he thinks he owns worldgroup, any one selling worldgroup or generating keys are doing some thing illegal.

Even myself, I was under the impression that Don Barr owned worldgroup, because even the official galacticomm pages years ago had links to his site (worldgroupware).

Don Barr was not talking about me, he was talking about the crack keymaker distributed in the MBBS Warez scene a few years ago.

Don Barr's deal is that he's friends with Nate Hammond, and Nate decided to let Don "handle" the hobby BBS side of Worldgroup while Nate concentrated on government and business deals, as well as writing other products based upon the Worldgroup source code. He never claimed ownership, he just was setup by Nate as the hobby BBS distribution channel.

Don Barr thinks Harold Van Arnem owns Worldgroup and Nate Hammond is the President of netVillage. The first part is not true.

Malakai wrote: I know about the DOS thing to, as I had mentioned several months ago on the forum somewhere. I tried to get some codes or user six packs or some thing from one of the DOS worldgroup versions, and he said he didn't have a keymaker but that he did have the source. So, later on myself and several other people tried to convince him to re-sale major bbs or release the source code, because worldgroup was his fortunes, but he refused, stating that by releasing the source code, he would compromise worldgroup 3.xnt that he worked so hard to create. If you really think about it, who in their right minds would want to create a bbs that's only good for databases and such. Keep in mind there were only a handfull of game modules out and being sold at the time, as most of the mod programmers gave up supporting their products at the time, probably majormud and some of the stuff metropolis has.

They didn't create Worldgroup 3.x. Galacticomm had basically finished 98% of Worldgroup 3 when Stryker died August 1996. It was released in early 1997 after the legitimate sale of Galacticomm to Yannick Tessier/Peter Berg by Christine Stryker. That group released all versions up to 3.2. After Galacticomm shut down in early '99 running from the bank, the illegitimate 3.3 (which barely had any changes at all) was released by "netVillage". This was mainly to brand it theirs and put their names on it, and release some changes previously coded as well as some changes they made. All minor. Harold Van Arnem and his group gained the code by basically stealing the computers from Galacticomm - they were being thrown out of their offices b/c of not paying rent, and Randy Epstein, then a partner of HVA's, offered space in his place... it was a fly by night operation, moving all the stuff out, much of it relegated to dumpsters... HVA only wanted to poach what he thought he could make money from.

So, is this how worldgroup went: From what I understand, Galacticomm went completely under, disappeared forever. Then netvillage bought the name (but isn't the same company?) and old website, and it had links to worldgroupware I remember. When I bought worldgroup from the ISP that went under, the only place I could find on the net that I could buy/register worldgroup was worldgroupware.

They took netVillage (which was a GALACTICOMM trademark!) and gcomm.com by gaining control of DNS, nothing more. Until 2002 the owners of Galacticomm were Tessier & Berg, but everything was under lien by Union Planters Bank. Then the bank foreclosed and took title. Then they sold it to me.

So, worldgroupware must have officially owned it at that time. So now, Don Barr sells it to some one, and one of the galacticomm companies (The original galacticomm or the netvillage one?) says "hey, this isn't legit. Don Barr, you still own the rights to it."???

No, Worldgroupware never owned anything. They were setup as a distribution channel for hobby BBSes by netVillage, which was setup by HVA and Nate Hammond to illegitimately run "Galacticomm"... the best part is that Barr and Hammond don't realize they're illegal, although I told Hammond and gave him the opportunity to buy it from the bank legit.. he figured since nobody knew, and the bank hadn't arrested them yet (and the bank was willing to do so had they done any research they could've found them), to leave it... which was kind of lame. HVA and his crooked attorney know very well. Nate asked the attorney for letters and proof but all the guy tells him is to "not worry"...

So, Don Barr got paid $howmuch? and was still some how considered the owner of worldgroup. OK, now netvillage owns the rights, and don barr owns the rights, and who knows how many people own the rights. OK, maybe rights isn't the correct word, because more than 1 person could probably own the rights with out actually owning the software, depending on how the contract for the sale was written out.

Again, WorldgroupWare/Barr were a distribution arm for his friend Hammond of NetVillage.

There was no contract for sale. Tessier might have gotten money from Van Arnem, but if so, he screwed Van Arnem, because Tessier had no legal right to sell any rights (general intangibles) under the lien.. especially in Florida!

So, who owns the actual software? Not just selling/distribution rights? Who has the ability to change the title of it, any trademarks, and all credits, with out infringing some one else's copyright bologna?

Until 2005, the Bank! After that - me. The computers they took legally are mine. Everything is mine - the only thing the bank kept was rights to judgements against the securities companies that screwed Galacticomm's IPO up, since they were worth several million dollars, and Tessier and Berg still owe the $250k + that was never collected by the bank.

painter wrote: es...Please.... I hope that I can find something that I have that you guy's need or want.

Old source code... any.. core bbs, modules, anything - is what I need.

dspain wrote: galacticomm - > galacticomm technologies - > yesser[merge] -> bankrupt

netvillage says they bought it from what i "HEAR" they're just another group of people like me wanting to make something better.

Not quite.

Galacticomm (Stryker) 1985-1997
iView (Tessier/Berg) 1997-2002
iView started, merged Tessier Technologies in in 1997, and Galacticomm in in 1997, and renamed itself Galacticomm Technologies from iView.
Union Planters/Regions Bank 2002-2005
after foreclosure; lien was on by 1998. court documents show bank release of general intangibles (specifically listed games and add-ons) for the purpose of Galacticomm Technologies' sale of those properties to Metropolis.
Me 2005-

rick has the power to open source it, change it, sell it, blah blah
i dont have the authority but i do have the ability but something i plan on changing in the very near future is adding my name to the newest releases Smile
and getting a new wg version out there and fits everyones needs not just the 6figure buisinesses, i wanna open the wg bbs market to anyone wanting to go online.

I'm the only legitimate holder of rights to do anything with the software. Sell it, give it away, open source it, modify it, make derivative software, etc.

I bought it from the bank.

Unfortunately, the bank had none of the physical stuff (computers, printouts, books) in their vaults (which they warned might happen and I feared when I bought it) so I had to cobble the physical stuff together myself. The "general intangibles" - the RIGHTS - were sold no problem.

Damn, you could write a book about all of that stuff. Luckily, there was enough software lingering around various coders or mbbs/wg owners to actually put together a full piece of the puzzle, unlike what happened to clark development and pcboard. When they went bankrupt, the bank got all of the software, and at least one of the main programmers was rumoured to be on the run from the IRS, but I imagine by now, the bank has probably disposed of all of that. So, it could be lost forever.

There was some developer source code to pcboard, but it wasn't complete enough to rebuild/re-compile pcboard, or enough to make it 32-bit win nt.

Like I said, worldgroup probably isn't bringing in enough revenue to hire lawyers and take netvillage to court, but if you plan any major changes to the 2.x DOS or 3.x DOS/Win versions, then you'd probably just need to change the activation schemes so that worldgroupware or netvillage don't distribute those versions or have a keymaker available.

How about a doors game called TW2002?
Or HWS Message reloader 1.6
T-Lord 1.0
Console lock
Command center
Lunatix
Menu Magician wg
Tournament chess WG c/s
Zen-Zee c/s

I have the disks but I don't know if they are any good. The 4.11 MajorBBS I have one disk I can read. I have the old ST4096 hard drive with 4.11 to 6.26 on it but I don't have a controller card or a computer that will run it if the drive is any good after all the years.

If you're wondering if they can be registered, here is some information:

There are basically three versions of tw2002 -
#1: The BBS Doorgame verion, owned by EIS
#2: The Trade Wars Game Server, also owned by EIS
#3: The majorbbs version, which was owned by high velocity

The EIS ones are still registerable and downloadable through the EIS website. The majorbbs version is who knows where (But ya might try playing it on high society bbs). From what I hear, the major bbs version was very buggy and crashed a lot when a lot of people played it. So, getting the twgs or running an external door game server might be a better choice. For now, it's your only choice any way!

T-LORD is also still supported by Metropolis Gameport. In fact, I just registered my version not too long ago from them.

Tournament Chess is also sold by Metropolis Gameport, but Rick is buying out all of their games, with the exception of LORD and MajorMUD. So, you may want to wait a month or 2 and just buy it from him at a discounted price.

Lunatix is owned by prowler productions and is still sold. I was going to register that game awhile back, but they took over a week to respond, and I'm impatient when it comes to buying stuff. So, I bought some thing else in that time (T-LORD and Robo Wars probably) LOL. Any way, I talked to Mike before that, just to see if the game was still supported and such, and he basically said:

We won't be updating any of our Worldgroup modules -- definitely won't be developing anything new for WG. I'm not aware of a Worldgroup revival, but as far as I can tell, the market is dead. I don't even have the WG dev environment set up anymore. I may not even have all the tools now. We currently do browser-based online games (like Lunatix Online), run as a service (instead of selling to other sites). This makes the WG version of Lunatix a competitive product for the browser-based version, sort of.

We lowered the price of registrations a few years ago, though, for the last versions of our WG add-ons. Basically Lunatix, Distant Places, and Mystic Messages are about 1/2 to 1/3 of the original price. Lunatix 2-user is $50, Lunatix unlimited user is $100, Distant Places is $20. I think Mystic Message is $15, but it has been many many years since we've sold a registration for that (and it's not compatible with WG3). We only get one inquiry every six months or so, and maybe one sale a year (if that).

Hope that helps. If you need additional information about purchasing the modules, you can contact sales@prowler-pro.com.

Before Gcomm went bellyup, I registered my name to a bunch of blank registrations that were in the GCD.

The last few weeks we (gcomm)were in Davie, we actually would keep the lights off and barracade the doors so the landlord(s) couldn't see were there. When we moved from Davie to HVA building in Deerfield, with all the assets we could get in trucks, there were still meetings going on for the sale. For a while Peter had an office in that building, along with the rest of us. I was stationed in the hallway, next to a coughing heavy smoking secretary. During this time, the "code" was put into escrow somewhere while the deal was going through. I think YT, picked up some of the code on his last day there. So when the deal finally went through, HVA was given some tapes and CDs with the "code" on it . I really don't know what was on it. Wally, Jack, Joe Phil were the programmers that were left. HVA screwed them out of a bonus he promised, screwed a lot of us out of bonuses that were suppose to happen. During this time in Deerfield, HVA brought in ppl to run the show, the day to day operations, one groups was Sherri and Pascal. These were the people that officially changed the name of the company to netVillage.com yes, DOT COM. We all tried to warn them that naming a company DOT COM is passe, but they were stuck on it. Now initially a while back, I think YT bought the Domain netvillage.com as they were going to set up something with it. but my memory fades. I did keep journals during this time and will have to go back and look at my notes. I was one of the few who lasted to the very end, me and George Ramano who came on board with gcomm during the time we were in Deerfield. The HVA days were very very strange indeed. One of his greatest decisions was that we didn't need programmers anymore. We would just sell the product as is, and after we got some revenue we'd hire some contractors to add things to the product. The 3.2 label I actually designed, well not designed, put the graphics together, on a MAC they gave me which I never ran, it use to be Lisa Kelly's machine.
HVA also hired someone to run the show later on named Steve Conme CON ME? LOL I don't remember if that was after or before Sherrie and Pascal, who I called Fred and Ethel.

Just some random memories

bposner wrote:The last few weeks we (gcomm)were in Davie, we actually would keep the lights off and barracade the doors so the landlord(s) couldn't see were there. When we moved from Davie to HVA building in Deerfield, with all the assets we could get in trucks, there were still meetings going on for the sale. For a while Peter had an office in that building, along with the rest of us. I was stationed in the hallway, next to a coughing heavy smoking secretary. During this time, the "code" was put into escrow somewhere while the deal was going through. I think YT, picked up some of the code on his last day there. So when the deal finally went through, HVA was given some tapes and CDs with the "code" on it . I really don't know what was on it. Wally, Jack, Joe Phil were the programmers that were left. HVA screwed them out of a bonus he promised, screwed a lot of us out of bonuses that were suppose to happen. During this time in Deerfield, HVA brought in ppl to run the show, the day to day operations, one groups was Sherri and Pascal. These were the people that officially changed the name of the company to netVillage.com yes, DOT COM. We all tried to warn them that naming a company DOT COM is passe, but they were stuck on it. Now initially a while back, I think YT bought the Domain netvillage.com as they were going to set up something with it. but my memory fades. I did keep journals during this time and will have to go back and look at my notes. I was one of the few who lasted to the very end, me and George Ramano who came on board with gcomm during the time we were in Deerfield. The HVA days were very very strange indeed. One of his greatest decisions was that we didn't need programmers anymore. We would just sell the product as is, and after we got some revenue we'd hire some contractors to add things to the product. The 3.2 label I actually designed, well not designed, put the graphics together, on a MAC they gave me which I never ran, it use to be Lisa Kelly's machine.
HVA also hired someone to run the show later on named Steve Conme CON ME? LOL I don't remember if that was after or before Sherrie and Pascal, who I called Fred and Ethel.

Just some random memories

Someone really needs to put all these thoughts together for publication. I would love to read the story of GComm from beginning to end, and get the perspective of people who worked there.... both good and bad.

bposner wrote:The last few weeks we (gcomm)were in Davie, we actually would keep the lights off and barracade the doors so the landlord(s) couldn't see were there. When we moved from Davie to HVA building in Deerfield, with all the assets we could get in trucks, there were still meetings going on for the sale. For a while Peter had an office in that building, along with the rest of us. I was stationed in the hallway, next to a coughing heavy smoking secretary. During this time, the "code" was put into escrow somewhere while the deal was going through. I think YT, picked up some of the code on his last day there. So when the deal finally went through, HVA was given some tapes and CDs with the "code" on it . I really don't know what was on it. Wally, Jack, Joe Phil were the programmers that were left. HVA screwed them out of a bonus he promised, screwed a lot of us out of bonuses that were suppose to happen. During this time in Deerfield, HVA brought in ppl to run the show, the day to day operations, one groups was Sherri and Pascal. These were the people that officially changed the name of the company to netVillage.com yes, DOT COM. We all tried to warn them that naming a company DOT COM is passe, but they were stuck on it. Now initially a while back, I think YT bought the Domain netvillage.com as they were going to set up something with it. but my memory fades. I did keep journals during this time and will have to go back and look at my notes. I was one of the few who lasted to the very end, me and George Ramano who came on board with gcomm during the time we were in Deerfield. The HVA days were very very strange indeed. One of his greatest decisions was that we didn't need programmers anymore. We would just sell the product as is, and after we got some revenue we'd hire some contractors to add things to the product. The 3.2 label I actually designed, well not designed, put the graphics together, on a MAC they gave me which I never ran, it use to be Lisa Kelly's machine.
HVA also hired someone to run the show later on named Steve Conme CON ME? LOL I don't remember if that was after or before Sherrie and Pascal, who I called Fred and Ethel.

Just some random memories

jesus bill sounds likle you need a vacation, hehe

yeah i know newvillage.com

they actually registered this year as netvillage LLC
see nate lives like 3 or 4 doors down from my mom in landover.
so i've heard the unofficial version as well, and rick has told me the official version.
but hell he gives me free codes and buys all the drinks when i visit my mom every month so ill listen, lol

you dont by chance have an official wg 2.0 cd do ya?

schizoid wrote:

bposner wrote:The last few weeks we (gcomm)were in Davie, we actually would keep the lights off and barracade the doors so the landlord(s) couldn't see were there. When we moved from Davie to HVA building in Deerfield, with all the assets we could get in trucks, there were still meetings going on for the sale. For a while Peter had an office in that building, along with the rest of us. I was stationed in the hallway, next to a coughing heavy smoking secretary. During this time, the "code" was put into escrow somewhere while the deal was going through. I think YT, picked up some of the code on his last day there. So when the deal finally went through, HVA was given some tapes and CDs with the "code" on it . I really don't know what was on it. Wally, Jack, Joe Phil were the programmers that were left. HVA screwed them out of a bonus he promised, screwed a lot of us out of bonuses that were suppose to happen. During this time in Deerfield, HVA brought in ppl to run the show, the day to day operations, one groups was Sherri and Pascal. These were the people that officially changed the name of the company to netVillage.com yes, DOT COM. We all tried to warn them that naming a company DOT COM is passe, but they were stuck on it. Now initially a while back, I think YT bought the Domain netvillage.com as they were going to set up something with it. but my memory fades. I did keep journals during this time and will have to go back and look at my notes. I was one of the few who lasted to the very end, me and George Ramano who came on board with gcomm during the time we were in Deerfield. The HVA days were very very strange indeed. One of his greatest decisions was that we didn't need programmers anymore. We would just sell the product as is, and after we got some revenue we'd hire some contractors to add things to the product. The 3.2 label I actually designed, well not designed, put the graphics together, on a MAC they gave me which I never ran, it use to be Lisa Kelly's machine.
HVA also hired someone to run the show later on named Steve Conme CON ME? LOL I don't remember if that was after or before Sherrie and Pascal, who I called Fred and Ethel.

Just some random memories

Someone really needs to put all these thoughts together for publication. I would love to read the story of GComm from beginning to end, and get the perspective of people who worked there.... both good and bad.

i definately would like to know as well. although in the end i would release a soap opera out of it, hehe

my grandmother is in charge of suntrust financial services shes a VP here in richmond,va shes gonna get back to me with the original names defaulted on the loan.
and if i find out netvillage did not own any portion of what they charged me for im gonna sue there ass back to the stone age

Yeah, that sounds like a good soap.

I am just glad that its going to be worked on.

Shawn

Actually I started on a book "My life as an Online Sysop" which chronicles my time as a sysop and through my employment at Gcomm. But got as far as an outline. My racing and car hobbies keep me pretty busy.

I don't have any more 2.0 CDs I have some 1.1 and 1.0 boxes around somewhere. I have tons of shrinkwrapped 3.2 cds, can be purchased http://www.motorheadcity.com/wg.htm I charge cause they are locked in a warehouse about 20 mile from here, along with copies of lots of other stuff, and I have to make a separate trip to get the CD(s). Anyway, yeah it would be fun to collabrate on a book. The rise and fall of a sofware giant or something like that. I need to go through all my journals and start organizing, yeah, like that's going to happen soon

When the place officially moved from Deerfield to Randy's office, it was only myself and George Romano. HVA gave the orders, through all that Gcomm crap out. So tons of stuff were thrown into the dumpster. George and I, during the next few days, grabbed as much stuff as we could, hardware, software, whatever. Hardware is all gone, except I think I still have an original galacticboard somewhere. Computers have all be thrown out except two Gateway 500mhz machines. One was used as the DemoSys during it's last days and one was my machine in the office. I keep coming across stuff, but most I sold to Rick. I do have a bunch of pics that I will start scanning and put up here eventually. I have an original Stryker manuscript of a novel that was not know my many, unfortuantely I don't have it electroincally I had the infamaus black leather couch for while, but that's long gone too, and I have a certificate of shares of iView and Gcomm somewhere, worthless except for memories. I had a sh*t load of client files, but there were so many I finally threw them out. It was just invoices, notes, etc. I still have some CDs like the marketing stuff from Lisa Kelly's machine, Tim's machine, and Chris Robert's machine. I'll look through some of this stuff and see if anything is worth posting.
This is fun. There were a lot of really cool people invovled with Gcomm both customers and ISVs . Anyone remember the last big ISV conference in Florida? We were trying to get interest in Actibase? haha what a POS. You know that code, the core, was bought from some guy in Isreal. It was barely working, but they tried to market it. I have an original box here in my office, Actibase, Upload without the Code LOL We had a guy that was put in charge of that project, Peter Blass (I think that was his name) what a insane person he was. He use to document, write articles, using Power Point..OMG the paper he generated. WebCast, I have some of that around too, actually this was a great idea, but we sold a lot of the technology to the Adult community, oh what was the name of that group, shoot I can't remember. Anyway, this was the basis of streaming video, and even the core of that I think YT stole from someone (don't quote me, but that sounds right). Sorry, I'm rambling here, gotta go, talk later.

bposner wrote:The last few weeks we (gcomm)were in Davie, we actually would keep the lights off and barracade the doors so the landlord(s) couldn't see were there. When we moved from Davie to HVA building in Deerfield, with all the assets we could get in trucks, there were still meetings going on for the sale. For a while Peter had an office in that building, along with the rest of us. I was stationed in the hallway, next to a coughing heavy smoking secretary. During this time, the "code" was put into escrow somewhere while the deal was going through. I think YT, picked up some of the code on his last day there. So when the deal finally went through, HVA was given some tapes and CDs with the "code" on it . I really don't know what was on it. Wally, Jack, Joe Phil were the programmers that were left. HVA screwed them out of a bonus he promised, screwed a lot of us out of bonuses that were suppose to happen. During this time in Deerfield, HVA brought in ppl to run the show, the day to day operations, one groups was Sherri and Pascal. These were the people that officially changed the name of the company to netVillage.com yes, DOT COM. We all tried to warn them that naming a company DOT COM is passe, but they were stuck on it. Now initially a while back, I think YT bought the Domain netvillage.com as they were going to set up something with it. but my memory fades. I did keep journals during this time and will have to go back and look at my notes. I was one of the few who lasted to the very end, me and George Ramano who came on board with gcomm during the time we were in Deerfield. The HVA days were very very strange indeed. One of his greatest decisions was that we didn't need programmers anymore. We would just sell the product as is, and after we got some revenue we'd hire some contractors to add things to the product. The 3.2 label I actually designed, well not designed, put the graphics together, on a MAC they gave me which I never ran, it use to be Lisa Kelly's machine.
HVA also hired someone to run the show later on named Steve Conme CON ME? LOL I don't remember if that was after or before Sherrie and Pascal, who I called Fred and Ethel.

Just some random memories

The only thing is that the bank had a lien on everything and Peter Berg and Yannick Tessier had absolutely no right to sell anything to HVA.

This is furthered by all the county documents, easily searchable on broward county's web site.

How the hell did PB and YT pull that off, amazing.

bposner wrote:How the hell did PB and YT pull that off, amazing.

Either:

(a) They took a small amount of money from him under the agreement that they'd claim that it was taken by the landlord and dumped when they were evicted and have no knowledge of it, and claim to the bank that it wasn't worth much anyway (the old 'no idea' argument); or
(b) It didn't.

Yannick claims that if anything happened, it was after he quit (which apparantly was just before the very end; he stormed out and wasn't involved) and it was solely Peter's doing.

The bottom line is that Nate Hammond, who was set up as head of Galacticomm by HVA, never has seen ANY bill of sale or transfer of rights. He's just told by HVA's lawyer "not to worry".

bposner wrote:Anyway, yeah it would be fun to collabrate on a book. The rise and fall of a sofware giant or something like that. I need to go through all my journals and start organizing, yeah, like that's going to happen soon

I, for one, would definately buy your book, but if that wont happen for a while (long while?), a few short stories like you have been posting will keep me going in the interim.

thanks!

--john

they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.[/quote]


What about user six packs for WG 3.0? I would like to do a user upgrade.

painter wrote:they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.

What about user six packs for WG 3.0? I would like to do a user upgrade. [/quote]

I think I can do this for 3.0 - e-mail me.

I remmember when they used to come out here to las vegas once a year or so. I never did win any of the raffles thou.
Las Vegas had a 128 line system called MultiComm, he had a lot of source code licenses for stuff. I gave my old 5.10 source code to one of the techs who worked with him.

Questman wrote:

painter wrote:they do for a hefty price for some b.s they put together and called it a version.
contact rick he'll get ya setup, if he happens to be away or working let me know ill give ya a temp 256 user code til he gets back with ya.

What about user six packs for WG 3.0? I would like to do a user upgrade.

I think I can do this for 3.0 - e-mail me.[/quote]

Okay. I did.

I didn't get it? Questman at themajorbbs dot com?

Corey: Multi-comm is online again. mclv.org

schizoid wrote: Someone really needs to put all these thoughts together for publication. I would love to read the story of GComm from beginning to end, and get the perspective of people who worked there.... both good and bad.

We have a bunch of the old employees, and users of the original systems here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moonshaealumni .. It's a closed group though, open to those from the company and the social groups.

i definately would like to know as well. although in the end i would release a soap opera out of it, hehe

my grandmother is in charge of suntrust financial services shes a VP here in richmond,va shes gonna get back to me with the original names defaulted on the loan.
and if i find out netvillage did not own any portion of what they charged me for im gonna sue there ass back to the stone age [/quote]

See, that in itself is funny Not only was the company full of drama, but the social group in South Florida was full of drama as well. Then again, it was completely intermixed I could give you too much information from the local - outside of the company itself and some from the inside. It was definitely a fun time to live in

As for the financial side of it, I want to know what happens with that as well Can't wait to read this considering I talked to these clowns in 2002 when I was re-setting up my BBS and they were giving me a whole line of crap that I really didn't believe. They couldn't give any details and the whole thing just looked shady...

bposner wrote:When the place officially moved from Deerfield to Randy's office, it was only myself and George Romano. HVA gave the orders, through all that Gcomm crap out. So tons of stuff were thrown into the dumpster. George and I, during the next few days, grabbed as much stuff as we could, hardware, software, whatever.

I knew when this occured. I had originally gotten George hired on at BSI Technologies when I was coding for them, and was around when all that stuff went down in Deerfield. I have my own registered versions of 6.25 that I PAID for somewhere still, along with a copy of the latest World Group that was rescued from the dumpster by George.

I recently did alot of digging, and found out alot of my Gcomm stuff is just gone, courtesy of my ex-wife, it would seem. I had a Galactibox full of modems, and a couple 16port Galacticards. I even had one of those equinox cards, though I never even set it up. I had held on to these things not with the plans of setting up another bbs, but for more nostalgic reasons, than anything else.

I need to go through my box that has my little gcomm stuff left. I need to see if any of the modules I wrote are still in existance. I was working on a really cool module when I left BSI, and I never finished it. I wish I had that code to contribute.

Anyways, I hope to see this software find a nice niche where it can once again flourish under good management.

Rich

Jams wrote: Anyways, I hope to see this software find a nice niche where it can once again flourish under good management.
Rich

A few years ago I managed to dig up a bunch of software and burned it all to CD, including a version of 6.25 that I too bought... I need to take some time and dig out that CD now, though I know I have it to share... I know I came up with Kyrandia and QFM, I don't remember if I found QFA though...

I have QUest of the Alchemists (see bbs.elwynor.com), but I need Quest for Sorcery I and II.

If you have those... I have the rights to the Moonshae games that weren't sold to Metropolis (just the stuff in the Entertainment edition).

Questman wrote:I have QUest of the Alchemists (see bbs.elwynor.com), but I need Quest for Sorcery I and II.

If you have those... I have the rights to the Moonshae games that weren't sold to Metropolis (just the stuff in the Entertainment edition).

/quote

i thought the quest series was gcomm, so moonshae did all those?
learn something new everyday

/end

Yep. Moonshae Telecomm.

Quest for Magic
Quest for Sorcery
Quest for Sorcery II
Quest of the Alchemists
Kyrandia (different world)
Quest for Zen (different world)
Alchemy II: The Hangover
Sorcerer's Isle

I can't find Quest for Sorcery I or II. I'm really disappointed about it.

Questman wrote:Yep. Moonshae Telecomm.
I can't find Quest for Sorcery I or II. I'm really disappointed about it.

Hmm... Have you asked the gang on the moonshaealumni yahoo group? I know quite a few of the gang are on that board... http://moonshae.com forwards to it...

Questman wrote:I didn't get it? Questman at themajorbbs dot com?

Corey: Multi-comm is online again. mclv.org

it's so sad, it's mearly a shadow of it's former self now.
I wonder if Al still has all the stuff he bought, he spent
a load of cash on mbbs over the years.

I used to run the Bradford BBS and had a source code license. I still have the disks for V2.0 Install; Multimedia extensions; dial up option; Novell LAN option; Connectivity Disk; 6-user pack; MajorGateway Internet V1.14; Shopping Mall V7.0; Developer's Doc v.10; Developers Server C Source Disk; Developers Client Source Disk; Multi Media Engine v2.0; Multimedia Ex Source v1.0 Server Sources; Multimedia Extension Source v1.0 Client Sources. I also have the CD for WorldGroup 3.2 that I got from NetVillage.

Still have the email printout from Bill Posner for tech support info on 3.2!

- Bill

wedgar wrote:I used to run the Bradford BBS and had a source code license. I still have the disks for V2.0 Install; Multimedia extensions; dial up option; Novell LAN option; Connectivity Disk; 6-user pack; MajorGateway Internet V1.14; Shopping Mall V7.0; Developer's Doc v.10; Developers Server C Source Disk; Developers Client Source Disk; Multi Media Engine v2.0; Multimedia Ex Source v1.0 Server Sources; Multimedia Extension Source v1.0 Client Sources. I also have the CD for WorldGroup 3.2 that I got from NetVillage.

Still have the email printout from Bill Posner for tech support info on 3.2!

- Bill

Welcome to the forums!

I just cleaned up the quote - there was really no reason for it anyway, and cleaned the thread up afterward.

Whew!

I just cleaned up the quote - there was really no reason for it anyway, and cleaned the thread up afterward.

Whew!