Dr. Faustus
Ars TechnicaWard Christensen, BBS inventor and architect of our online age, dies at age 78
Christensen kick-started online culture by inspiring thousands of hobbyist communities.
rodlux@arstechnica this is sad. It was the #bbs world that got me online at such speeds as 300 and 1200 baud and in 40x20 characters with at best 4 colours. I was still able to send email though.... ahh #fidonet
RIP #wardchristensen online pioneer.
Kevin Karhan 
@arstechnica pressing F to pay respect
sad modem sounds playing
J. Steven York RESISTS@arstechnica
Very sad. I got into BBSs in Seattle not long after this, and met my future wife on one (we're still together, in what might be one of the oldest surviving online marriages in the country for all I know). BBSs pryed the door open for affordable individual phone modem use (against the Bell system's wishes) and kept it open until easy internet access mostly swept them away.
Very sad. I got into BBSs in Seattle not long after this, and met my future wife on one (we're still together, in what might be one of the oldest surviving online marriages in the country for all I know). BBSs pryed the door open for affordable individual phone modem use (against the Bell system's wishes) and kept it open until easy internet access mostly swept them away.
@arstechnica
Sadly ironic that replies to this post are giving me several new people to follow.
Sadly ironic that replies to this post are giving me several new people to follow.
vandys@arstechnica When I think of Ward, I think of xmodem. I remember riding back from a Hacker Conference with him, and asking what he was working on with the BBS world behind us? He looked a little sheepish and said he should think of something!
A humble, friendly man.
A humble, friendly man.
pcbeard@arstechnica I remember somebody sending me a floppy with a basic version of an XMODEM file transfer program. From there I bootstrapped to YMODEM and eventually ZMODEM file transfer programs written in 8080 or Z80 assembly. I eventually ran the PBBS software on my NorthStar Advantage CP/M machine. It all flowed from XMODEM.
RIP Ward Christensen — may your bits always be error corrected. What’s the baud rate like where you are?
Obrientg@arstechnica BBS was not created by him, but https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Memory did
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