Bob Shannon

Bob Shannon of Mendocino, California wrote the first Bulletin board system (BBS) for the Commodore VIC-20. His BBS, "Electric Magazine" 1982 was written in BASIC on a machine which was thought by many to be a game machine and not a serious computer. Shannon's BBS software sold over 4000 copies in about two years.

"Electric Magazine" came with a large book that instructed buyers and users in how to alter the program to make it look like their own personal program. Many users altered enough code to actually copyright the program under their own name. Many of the subroutines were cut and pasted in the old fashioned method and new versions appeared on a weekly basis from all over the country.

In 1984 Kathy Yakal, an associate editor of COMPUTE!'s Gazette wrote and article about "BBS Fever" and Mr. Shannon's system was included in that article. Mr Shannon ported his software over to the Commodore 64 computer and later to the Amiga. In 1984 he attempted a version of his software on a Kaypro CP/M but it was not successful. He later attempted to port it over to the IBM, but neither IBM nor Kaypro users were interested in BBS programs at that time. Commodores remained strong sellers, however. He is now retired from programming and lives with his wife of 40 years in a cabin in the mountains in the state of Washington.