This interview was first published on June 10, 1995.

This week we talk with Robert Vostreys. Never heard of him? That's ok. He is the reason that QWK based networks exist in the PCBoard world. With his program RNET, more than a thousand PCBoard sysops can share messages among themselves without worry of bugs, dupes or crashes.

Robert also runs a very successful BBS, Father Than Light, and has brought some neat ideas on sysoping to the tables!

PG:  No one can just "do computers" all the time. Do you hit the golf course? Play a little ping pong? What?

RV: Actually, I do "do computers" all the time.  Ok, I do go out to the movies occasionally, I read science fiction when I make the time, and about once a month I drive a long haul truck route.  I have a nice telescope, but haven't used it in years (sigh).  I'm kinda like Scotty from Star Trek -- for a vacation I read technical manuals.

PG: What other shareware products do you offer? Commercial programs?

RV: While 90% of what I've put out for Sysops is in the public domain, there are two shareware programs (two that I ask for registrations for): RNET and TXT2MSG.

As for commercial software, I have a number of serious utilities for PCBoard/Sysops including: UUFTL File Decoder, Email MX processor, Ping/Finger/Telnet/etc (TCP/IP service doors), NNTP Poller, WWW/FTP Server, AutoFTP, and SLIP/PPP doors.  As you can see, the direction lately has been toward Internet TCP/IP and Usenet based packages.

In the non-BBSing realm, I write commercial database applications (usually for mailorder and inventory systems) and finance company accounting/database software.  Accounting software was the primary focus for several years but has given way to running the BBS full time for the past two years.

PG: Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are you in to?

RV: Er, is that anything like Grape Jam?  I don't think grinding up pearls would be very tasty.  Based on your second question, I'll assume it's a music group of some type.

I like Classic Rock and usually loud when driving.  Cream, Floyd, Zepplin, etc. I also like classical and folk music.  I don't like anything with a 3/4 beat.

PG: How is RNET selling? Well enough to live off of? If not, what do you do for a living?

RV: It has been dropping off (as expected).  It is a VERY limited market product -- only used by PCBoard/Prodoor Sysops who want to be part of a QWK based echo network.  While it has many useful features beyond its echo abilities, nobody but that small market has any excuse to look at it.

It was originally written to get around the problems with the only other existing tosser at the time.  The author was very unresponsive to getting things fixed so I had to write something.  Roger Sligar also had the same problems with his board so I gave it to him.  He convinced me to put it out as shareware to provide Sysops with a solution to the problems they were facing.  I expected to get maybe a dozen or so registrations in a year.  However, it had a dozen registrations in the first week and went from there.

All the registrations have gone directly into the board and its expansion.  It was due mostly to RNET that the board remained a free access system for seven years.

What do I do for a living?  I "do computers" <heh>.  I do contract programming / consulting, sell hardware, and drive the occasional long haul truck route to get away from it all.

However, things are changing.  I and several others are in the middle of putting together a corporation to act as an Internet Service Provider and software development company.  And you can be assured that it'll be very "Sysop Friendly" since I, being a Sysop, have a good idea what pains Sysops have to go through.

PG: Ok. Just like everyone asks a car reviewer or mechanic what kind of car they drive, what is the configuration and type of your primary PC?

RV: My personal machine is a 386/40, 8mb RAM, 260mb HD, SVGA.

If you are asking what the BBS runs on, it varies from a 286/12 that just won't die up to a pair of 486/100's running OS2 Warp.  It drives some folks crasy that I have mostly 486's here and yet still use a 386/40 that doesn't even have a power switch (it has never been turned off since being put together).

PG: Are you afraid that Clark Development will incorporate the functionality of RNET into PCB at any time? They have done that with Fido technology.

RV: Nope, not at all.  If PCBoard (or another product) did what RNET does, then RNET wouldn't be needed anymore.  I didn't write it to sell, and I don't keep writing it to make anything.  It continues to exist and expand soley for the benefit of the Sysops who need it.  If it wasn't for habit and my liking to know folks are still getting use of it, it would be freeware.

Clark Development has implemented many of RNET's features specifically because of RNET Sysops asking for them.  A perfect example is the PCBPACK /THreashold command.

PG: Your also a pretty insightful sysop, define the Information Superhighway in your own words.

RV: It's a toll road that leads into a hay stack looking for a needle.

RV: The problem is that there is no intelligent filtering of the vast amounts of information available.  Information overload.  The next big step in software technology will be the software ability to search, analyze, and filter information of any and all types to find what someone is looking for without swamping them.

As binary indexed databases made a difference, followed by GUI interfaces and applications generators, the next leap will be filter technology.  All this information is just great -- but it takes forever on to impossible to find the best answers to your questions.  You may find an answer somewhere (manually searching), but is that the best answer?  Is there a better, more complete, more up to date answer somewhere else you haven't looked?  Software search and filtering technology will be required before the true value of the "Information Superhighway" is seen.

I believe that with the development of the software technology to search and filter the information available, the "Information Superhighway" will change definition to mean those tools themselves.

PG: The QWK format has undergone very little changes over the years. Do you think it is ready for an overhaul? If so, in what areas? If not, why not?

RV: QWK not changing isn't for the lack of need.  The only real reason QWK hasn't changed is due to the originator of the QWK format (which is simply the PCBoard 12 message base format with a few extra fields) dragging his heels and being unresponsive to suggested changes.

QWK needs to die.  It no longer suit the needs of Sysops nor of Users. However, it has mass and momentum.  Various other formats and systems have come out, but none have taken hold as well as QWK.  It's advantage was it's timing on the market.  The BBS community (that which was not on Fido technology already) was ready for echonetworks.  It provided the means of accomplishing that.  That's where it stopped. While better mouse traps (including RNET) have come along, they're still mouse traps.

As for reader technology, QWK is in even worse shape than network wise.

PG: I'm a sysop of a BBS. What are the top five things I can do to attract paying callers?

RV: I've run a free (donation) system for the last 8 years so I don't really know the answer to that one.  I'll make some common sense guesses:

1. Support your customers (users).  Use voice support lines, be professional, answer all questions in a timely manner.  Listen very carefully to what your customers tell you.

2. Know your market.  You need to know what the users in your area are in need/want of and try to provide it.  If your users are mostly into games, provide games.  If your users are mostly into files, get lots of files.

3. Advertize.  Doesn't matter if you have the best system in the world if nobody knows about it.

4. Have a style or a primary purpose.  A "general, do everything" system is undefined and just like any other.  Have a unique system style or focus without losing compatibility with the general marketplace.

5. Price your services well.  Pricing too low or too high will discourage users.  If your system was $1/year, folks will not feel there is anything worthwhile or you are not serious.  If you price at $500/year, you'll have very little in the way of customers and/or have a very limited nitch market.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
delicious | digg | reddit | furl | technorati | icerocket