Spitfire (BBS)

SPITFIRE (BBS) is a DOS-based Bulletin Board System written by Mike Woltz, published by his company Buffalo Creek Software of West Des Moines, Iowa. SPITFIRE was written in Turbo Pascal with Assembly Language routines. It was released in 1987 under the Shareware concept and had a moderate sized fanbase, only outnumbered by products such as RemoteAccess, PCBoard, Major BBS, and Wildcat! BBS. It was possible to run multiple "nodes" of SPITFIRE under Microsoft Windows and OS/2; although, most SysOps preferred to use Quarterdeck's DESQview for this purpose. SPITFIRE interfaced with message relaying systems such as FidoNet through 3rd party utilities such as SHILOH, a QWK networking interfacing program, and BCSUTI, a Postlink-style networking interface. SPITFIRE's most successful release (Version 3.2) came in 1992, just before the World Wide Web exploded on the scene. By 1994, many SysOps began converting from running BBSes to becoming Internet Service Providers. Mr. Woltz was greatly admired by loyal SysOps, but was known for being somewhat stubborn and due to his unwillingness to add Internet connectivity to the software. SPITFIRE's usage dwindled significantly throughout the United States. It was and is still used throughout the world, particularly in countries where high-speed Internet access is unavailable or banned.

However, due to advances in technology, SPITFIRE can be run as a telnet BBS by using a virtual FOSSIL driver and telnet engine (SIO/VMODEM under OS/2, NetFoss, NetSerial or [NetModem] under Windows).

SPITFIRE (current version 3.6) was updated in 1999 for Y2K compliancy is still supported by Buffalo Creek Software today.

External links

* [http://www.homestead.com/homeward/index.html Homeward Bound BBS running Spitfire]
* [http://www.buffalocrk.com/ Buffalo Creek Software]
* [http://www.pcmicro.com/netfoss/ NetFoss]
* [http://www.randm.ca/index.php GameSrv]
* [http://pcmicro.com/netserial/ NetSerial]
* [http://netmodem.com/ NetModem ]