ExecPC BBS: Difference between revisions

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'''ExecPC''' is an [[online service provider]] started in 1983 by owner Bob Mahoney as the '''Exec-PC BBS'''. It quickly grew to be one of the world's largest [[bulletin board system]]s in the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, competing with the likes of [[Compuserve]] and [[Prodigy (ISP)|Prodigy]].

ExecPC began offering [[Internet access]] in 1994 as ExecPC Internet, and being based in [[New Berlin, WI|New Berlin, Wisconsin]], quickly grew to be the largest [[Internet service provider]] in [[Wisconsin]]. The company was sold in 1998 to Voyager.net of [[East Lansing, MI|East Lansing, Michigan]]. After a lengthy series of acquisitions, the assets are now held by LocalNet of [[Buffalo, NY|Buffalo, New York]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.localnet.com/releases1.phtml Retrieved|website=www.localnet.com |date=7 May 2008 |title=LocalNet 12Announces JulyNew 2007Look}}</ref>

== History ==

=== The Exec-PC BBS ===

[[Image:Exec pc bbs.PNG|thumb|Exec PC BBS|300 px]]

The Exec-PC BBS launched on November 28, 1983, in the den of owner Bob Mahoney and his wife Tracey. This was in the earliest days of BBSing, and in contrast to most systems that used one of the many shareware BBS systems, ExecPC was a custom system written in the [[Clipper (programming language)|Clipper]] [[database system]]. This allowed them to add new features to the system throughout its lifetime.<ref name=bob>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/g/execpc.general/c/mIRC_xnhYpk |title= My time with ExecPC |first= Greg |last=Ryan |date=10 February 1999}}</ref>

The Exec-PC BBS launched on November 28, 1983 in the den of owner Bob Mahoney. Known primarily for its extensive [[shareware]] software archives, the BBS also offered [[E-mail]], message forums, and [[BBS door]] games to paying subscribers.<ref name="bbsdocu">[[Jason Scott Sadofsky]] (July 2001 – December 2004), [[BBS: The Documentary]] (3 DVDs)</ref> As the file archives grew in size, Mahoney created the Hyperscan feature, allowing members to quickly search for files by [[Index term|keyword]] — a common feature today, but rare at the time. Mahoney became one of the earliest BBS operators to begin charging a fee for access to a BBS. The Exec-PC BBS grew to over 250 lines, with over 300&nbsp;GB of file storage at its peak in the mid-90s. Callers could connect to the Exec-PC BBS via long distance at no additional charge, or connect to any [[CompuServe]] local access number for a per-minute fee.

The Exec-PC BBS launched on November 28, 1983 in the den of owner Bob Mahoney. Known primarily for its extensive [[shareware]] software archives, the BBS also offered [[E-mail]], message forums, and [[BBS door]] games to paying subscribers.<ref name="bbsdocu">[[Jason Scott Sadofsky]] (July 2001 – December 2004), [[BBS: The Documentary]] (3 DVDs)</ref> As the file archives grew in size, Mahoney created the Hyperscan feature, allowing members to quickly search for files by [[Index term|keyword]] — a—a common feature today, but rare at the time. Mahoney became one of the earliest BBS operators to begin charging a fee for access to a BBS. The Exec-PC BBS grew to over 250 lines, with over 300&nbsp;GB of file storage at its peak in the mid-90s. Callers could connect to the Exec-PC BBS via long distance at no additional charge, or connect to any [[CompuServe]] local access number for a per-minute fee.

In 1996, the file collection of the Exec-PC BBS was placed on the [[world-wide web]] through the [[Filepile.com]] web site. [[Filepile.com]] was officially abandoned in 1999 having been made obsolete by other Internet services, but the BBS still remains accessible via [[telnet]] on the Internet at bbs.execpc.com.

In 1996, the file collection of the Exec-PC BBS was placed on the [[world-wide web]] through the [[Filepile.com]] web site. [[Filepile.com]] was officially abandoned in 1999 having been made obsolete by other Internet services, but the BBS still remains accessible via [[telnet]] on the Internet at bbs.execpc.com.

=== Exec-PC Chat ===

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ExecPC Internet proved to be tremendously popular, and grew from its first paying subscribers in 1994 to just over 80,000 subscribers in 1998. As it grew, the company added business-class access services such as [[ISDN]] and [[Digital Signal 1|T1]] lines, as well as [[web hosting service]].

=== Mergers and Acquisitionsacquisitions ===

In September, 1998, Mahoney sold ExecPC to [[East Lansing, MI|East Lansing, Michigan]]-based–based Voyager.net. Voyager.net was purchased by CoreComm Ltd. in October, 2000, who then, through other acquisitions, became ATX Communications in 2004. In December, 2005, ATX Communications sold the remaining ExecPC assets and customer base to LocalNet of [[Buffalo, NY|Buffalo, New York]], the current operators.

== LocalNet ==

LocalNet Internet Services, Inc. begun in [[Buffalo, New York]], sells [[dial-up Internet access]], [[web hosting service]]s and [[Digital subscriber line]] Internet access.<ref>{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.localnet.com/about.php |website=LocalNet |access-date=14 December 2021 |language=English}}</ref>

==References==

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== External links ==

* [http://home.execpc.com Current home page for ExecPC Internet subscribers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906180931/http://home.execpc.com/ |date=2008-09-06 }}

* [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.08/es_access.html?pg=1 Wired article on ExecPC]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000301020500/http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/may99/0517exec.asp Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article]

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