The History of Galacticomm -

About Galacticomm

Galacticomm was incorporated in 1985 by Tim Stryker in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to run a network of multiuser game systems. Stryker had previously designed several game items, including a stand-up arcade game, and a two-player head-to-head game for the Commodore PET called Flash Attack, which was featured in a 1980 Byte magazine article.

In 1984, Stryker wrote a series of multiuser adventure games called Fazuul, Fazuul 9001, Freezuul, and Phazuul. Fazuul ran on a system called EnterNet (the entertainment network).

But the product that started the shift toward BBS software was the Galacticomm Software Breakthrough Library, or, the GSBL. The GSBL was a set of assembler communication routines that programmers could use to write any multiuser application - Galacticomm suggested things like credit-card verification systems, call-forwarding systems, multi-node energy management systems, file transfer systems, multiple listing services, etc. The GSBL provided a multiuser interface to multi-modem cards, multiport serial cards, and COM-port modems. It initially provided support for 32 users under DOS, and was expanded to 64, then 256.

In 1986, Tim Stryker developed the Model 16 multimodem card, which allowed for up to 16 1200-baud modems on one ISA PC card. And, to demonstrate the model 16 and the GSBL, Tim developed The Major BBS v1.0. Later in the year, Galacticomm released partial source code and a non-hardware version of The Major BBS v2.2 as shareware to demonstrate the 'behind the scenes' operation of the system. In 1987, the BBS' version 4.0 was released as a full commercial product. That year, the first ISV products started development.

The Major BBS started catching on; in 1988 version 5.0 shipped along with another innovative hardware product called the Galactibox. The Galactibox was a 16-slot ISA chassis that connected via a cable to an ISA interface card into a PC. Up to four Galactiboxes could be connected to a single PC, allowing 64 less expensive ISA-card internal modems to be connected to the PC. The following year saw the beginning of the explosion of popularity; ANSI support, extended editions to The Major BBS, software connectivity options, and more. More and more ISV products became available.

In 1992, Galacticomm released version 6.0 of the software, which included protected mode support that allowed systems to break the 640K barrier, and use up to 16Mb of memory (much to the relief of operators of very large systems). In 1995, the next major version of the flagship was released, calling itself Worldgroup instead of The Major BBS.

The company was faced with tragedy in August 1996, as founder, Chairman, and chief visionary Tim Stryker passed away. The company was struggling over that past 12 months with sales starting to slow, and trying to position itself favorably with the emerging Internet. Focus was missing, and after Stryker's death, the company was sold in late 1996 by his widow Christine to a group headed by Yannick Tessier, a top ISV. Tessier and Peter Berg led the company toward an IPO, which failed in 1998. By this time, most of the influential members of the company had either left or been let go; the company was bleeding money, and mismanagement forced it to fold in bankruptcy by 2002. The company had essentially shut down operations entirely in 1999. During this whole time, the only major release of the software was Worldgroup 3.0 in February 1997, which was largely completed before the sale to Tessier. Under Tessier, the company released two "point" releases of Worldgroup, and not much else.

A very unfortunate situation for one of the most innovative computer technology companies.

Galacticomm Timeline

1985
- July 23, 1985: Galacticomm incorporated by Tim Stryker in Fort Lauderdale, FL (initially to run a network of multiuser game systems).

1986
- Developed the Model 16 multimodem card and the GSBL. Developed The Major BBS v1.0 as a demo for the model 16.
- Released The Major BBS v2.0 as shareware

1987
- March 31, 1987: Released The Major BBS v3.0
- Late 1987: Released The Major BBS v4.0 as a commercial product. First ISVs (Moonshae) write addon software.

1988
- Late 1988: Released The Major BBS v5.0. Introduced the GalactiBox multi ISA chassis.

1989
- Released The Major BBS v5.07 with new "extended editions": File Library, MenuMan, Entertainment, and Shopping Mall. Introduced X.25 support. Supports ANSI graphics.

1990
- Released The Major BBS v5.2; includes BBSETUP automatic hardware detection and configuration program. Offered protected mode support. Manufactured the GalactiBoard, an 8 port 1660 UART serial card.
- December 31, 1990: Galacticomm formally acquires Galactic Innovations (Moonshae Telecomm) - Scott Brinker becomes Vice President

1991
- Released Major BBS v5.3 with Novell Netware LAN Support

1992
- Introduced Major BBS v6; SysOps no longer needed source code for add-ons; included Phar-Lap protected mode operation

1993
- Introduced Major BBS v6.1 with multilingual capability

1994
- Introduced Major BBS v6.25; Introduced ICO (TCP/IP kit); The Major BBS for UNIX issued.

1995
- Introduced Worldgroup v1.0, Worldgroup Internet Server; Released UNIX version of Worldgroup.

1996
- April 1996: WorldGroup v2.0 Released with WorldGroup Plug-in for Netscape
- August 6, 1996: Galacticomm CEO and founder Tim Stryker commits suicide in Colorado. A tragedy words can't describe.
- November-December, 1996: iView Software, Tessier Technologies, and Galacticomm, Inc. merge after Yannick Tessier and group purchase the company from Christine Stryker.

1997
- February 1997: Worldgroup 3.0 released (most of it was completed in November 1996).
- November 7, 1997: Galacticomm files for an $11 million IPO. (NASDAQ: GALA) - (See documents from www.secinfo.com)

1998
- September 24, 1998: Galacticomm announces public offering
- September 30, 1998: Galacticomm's IPO Cancelled Suddenly by underwriter Security Capital Trading - (See documents from www.secinfo.com)

1999
- Operations shut down completely, company evicted from long-time offices.

2000

2001
- August 16, 2001: NASD announces that it charged a broker-dealer (Security Capital Trading) and its president with violating NASD rules when they improperly terminated a firm commitment to underwrite an IPO for Galacticomm. Galacticomm alleged that it was forced out of business in part due to the loss of IPO proceeds.

2002
- Galacticomm ends in bankruptcy. Assets repossessed by lenders.
- Late 2002: Cases against Security Capital Trading, et al, ends in a victory for Galacticomm, but too late to save the company.

2003

2004
- May 2004: The Major BBS Restoration Project begins.

2005
- 2005: Galacticomm Technologies assets sold by bank.

Galacticomm Leadership

This chronicles the leadership of Galacticomm.

Chairmen
- 1985-1996         Tim Stryker
- 1996-2002         Peter Berg

Presidents
- 1985-1993         Tim Stryker
- 1993-1995         Bob Stein
- 1995-1996         Scott Brinker
- 1996-1997         Bob Shaw
- 1997-1998         Yannick Tessier
- 1998-2002         Peter Berg
- 2002-2006         None
- 2006-Present     TBA