The advent of WWW is causing all developers of BBS systems to re-engineer their products. Each of them responds in different ways: some try to ignore WWW (as SoftArc did for a while); others (like CAUCUS) try to push all their BBS functionality through a WWW interface (next to impossible at the current state of WWW functionality); most try to take some middle path between ignoring the WWW and capitulating to it.
However, there is more than one middle way. FirstClass and (it seems) Exchange ensure that their email client can access the relevant server over TCP/IP but otherwise make little more than promises of closer integration. Others try for fuller integration, in particular the "plug-in" technology of Netscape. Galacticomm is one of these.
Galacticomm, Inc. is a developer of a BBS system which is well known among "sysops", especially in the hobbyist BBS community. The BBS system is based on a PC server. For some years Galacticomm has had a traditional command-line interface, which has restricted its appeal to aficionados. However, Galacticomm have unveiled Worldgroup version 2.0, its next generation of online software. This is designed to bridge the gap between the World Wide Web and online systems/workgroups.
Worldgroup v2.0 includes a freely distributable plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0 that enables a user to launch a suite of off-the-shelf multimedia client/server applications directly from a company’s Web site. The Worldgroup Plug-in can be downloaded and demonstrated from the company’s Web site.
The Web-enabled Worldgroup applications offered by Galacticomm are many, but the most interesting for our readers include multimedia databases, real-time action chat, document management tools, Rich Text Format e-mail and forums with support for embedded URLs, threaded group discussion areas, and newsfeeds.
Galacticomm are proud of this development. "Worldgroup v2.0 builds upon our ten years of experience in providing network-centric communications software," says Galacticomm President Scott Brinker. "This is time-proven, robust technology that has now converged with the Web to produce a spectacular universe of client/server applications over the Intranet and the Internet at large."
When users browsing the Web click on a hypertext link to a Worldgroup application, the plug-in initiates a direct (persistent) connection to a Worldgroup server. The connection is transparently made through the same TCP/IP link that the user is using for Web access. If the user already has an account on that Worldgroup system, they will be seamlessly logged on; if not, they will be asked to create an account. Depending on how the system is configured, they will either be presented with a graphical menu of all services or taken directly to a specific application.
All applications already written for the Worldgroup platform are now available via the Web without modification - the interface to the Web is handled through the Worldgroup Plug-in software.
Customers can easily create their own Web-enabled Worldgroup applications using Visual Basic. Existing applications can be customised to provide a unique multimedia interface. Galacticomm is helpfully providing source code for most Worldgroup applications.
Users can access Worldgroup applications from a browser via hot links or by establishing a connection to the Worldgroup server independently of the Web, just as can be done in FirstClass - via modem, TCP/IP, ISDN, X.25 or Novell IPX/SPX.
Galacticomm’s Web site gives more information: http://www.gcomm.com.