PowerBBS v5.# for Windows 3.1 and 32-bit version for Windows 95 & Windows NT
PowerBBS v5.# for Windows 3.1 and 32-bit version for Windows 95 & Windows NT
By far the most radical upgrade to date!
PowerBBS v5.# is a brand new product enhanced from
the ground up to be the quickest and most powerful
software on the market - by far.
The Competition Pales In Comparison!
New Features in v5.#
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Plus... Over 300 other enhancements, improvements
and modifications! Upgrade and experience
power like never before…
Choosing a BBS package
No single BBS package is the best. Each package has its own strengths and weaknesses. You need to evaluate your needs and decide for yourself which package best fits your needs. We offer a few suggestions for helping you choose a package.
Don't let marketing fool you!
We at PowerBBS spend our time making a quality BBS package. We don't spend our time trying to market the program. PowerBBS may not be the #1 seller, but that doesn't mean it's not a great package. Don't let slick marketing hype fool you. The only thing that being #1 best seller means in the BBS industry is quality marketing. Before pay your money, try the program first to see if it meets your needs. That's the best marketing we at PowerBBS can do.
How good is the tech support?
We at PowerBBS offer fast responses to tech support questions. Our tech support is open to everyone, even those just trying out PowerBBS without having yet purchased it. Some packages won't let you access their tech support forums until you first buy the program. You have no idea what concerns other sysops have about the program until you buy the package. You have no idea how good or bad the support personnel are. Not only is the PowerBBS Support BBS open to all callers, so is the CompuServe forum. You can see first hand how well we operate. You have to ask yourself why other packages hide their tech support forums from public view. What are they afraid of?
Do they have a demo?
Because BBS packages are a niche market, you are not likely to find them at your local computer retailer. Therefore, you can't walk into a store and demo the program with a salesman. You have to rely on word of mouth, advertising, product reviews, and demonstration copies. If a BBS package doesn't offer a demo, you have to ask yourself why? What are they afraid of? I'll tell you. They are afraid that you will decide that perhaps their software is not worth the money. They figure if you buy it first, you won't go through the trouble of returning it. You'll just tough it out. We at PowerBBS offer a demo so that you can try it before you buy it.
What's missing?
PowerBBS is not the least expensive or most expensive BBS package. We provide a high quality product at a more than reasonable price. Some other packages require numerous add-ons just to bring their system up to speed. You might ask them, "Does your program do file searches?" The answer might be, "Yes, there is an add-on that does that." An add-on to do file searches? How can someone market a BBS that doesn't even do file searches?
Before spending your hard earned money, getting the facts first. Find out what's part of the standard package what requires an add-on. A large market for third party applications indicates that the standard BBS package is missing a lot of features. Look for a package that has a moderate number of reasonably priced add-ons.
How about off-line mail?
Before investing in a BBS package, find out if it supports off-line mail. Some packages claim that they do, but when you get the facts, you find out they don't. One package claims to support off-line mail, but it only lets you write one message at a time. You must immediately call that BBS to post your message. You can't save the message to send later. You can't write more than one message to send them all at once. You can't even choose into what forum the message is sent. Why not just type the message in Notepad, then cut and paste it when you get on-line?
Furthermore, you simply cannot read the mail off-line at all with some packages. How can they call this off-line mail? Sure, you might be able to buy an add-on, but why should you have to?. PowerAccess comes with a free off-line mail reader that permits callers to read and write as much mail off-line as they want.
What about terminal size?
PowerAccess fits on a single floppy. Some other terminals require two or three disks. Do you think your callers want to download three megabytes before ever connecting to your BBS? One competitor claims to have the "smallest" terminal. Well, last we checked, it was only about 10K smaller than PowerAccess. However, their terminal was missing some very important features including support for off-line mail and teleconference. As soon as you connect to a BBS using this terminal, you are sent more DLLs just to get it to run properly. If you want off-line mail, you have to download another DLL. I ask you, how is that smaller?
Does it have a teleconference?
If you ever intend to run multiple nodes, you will want a teleconference. PowerAccess has a teleconference that supports multiple rooms (channels) and action commands with sounds. Other packages claim to have "chat," but their "chat" requires the caller to download a separate DLL before chatting. Their "chat" does not even support action commands, much less actions with sounds! I guess you'll have to buy an add-on for that as well!
How easy is it to create screens?
PowerGenerator for PowerBBS is incredibly easy to use. You don't need to be an artist to create dynamic and exciting screens. Other packages have complex drawing programs that are difficult to learn. In fact at least one competitor has a strong third party market for pre-made screens. It makes you wonder how hard it is to create screens if sysops feel the need to pay for them! Before buying a BBS, try to demo the screen drawing program.
How friendly is the sysop community?
Before buying a package, check out how friendly the sysops are. Does the package have a listserver? If so, subscribe to it and observe the mail for a few days. Some packages have three or four competing listservers because there is some much internal bickering. Remember, you will at some point rely on your fellow sysops for help, so make sure they are friendly.
Call other systems
Take a look at systems created by other sysops. Doing so will give you an idea of how powerful and flexible the system can be. If you find that all the systems tend to look the same, you have to wonder how flexible the package really is.
Can it support ANSI callers?
Not all Windows client-server packages can support ANSI callers. While some sysops may not want to do this at all, others will. There are plenty of good reasons to. First, not everyone can run Windows. There are a large number of Macintosh, UNIX, and DOS users out there who want to call your BBS. If you don't accept ANSI callers, how can they connect?
Second, what if someone wants to call from a different location such as work? Not all businesses permit workers to install software from home. Are you willing to tell your callers that they can only call from home? What if the caller is out of town and just wants to check his e-mail? Are you going to make him download your terminal first?
Third, what if the caller downloads the terminal and has a problem installing it? Some users are not very good at these types of simple tasks. If you don't accept ANSI callers, how can write you an e-mail to ask you a question?
Finally, if you plan to use your BBS for tech support, you will need to accept ANSI callers. Why should you force a customer to download a 1.4 megabyte file just to pick up a 25K update or leave a message?
With PowerBBS you can accept both ANSI and graphical callers. We give you the best of both worlds.
The interface
You will need to try the interface from the caller's perspective. Some packages only permit the caller to open one sysop-created screen at a time, contrary to the caller's natural inclination to keep open multiple windows if he chooses. PowerBBS uses standard files such as ICO, GIF, BMP, JPG, WMF, and nearly 20 others. Music and sounds are automatically sent to the caller. Before investing in a package, make sure that it is uses industry standards.
Conclusion
You need to spend some time evaluating the various packages. If a program doesn't offer
a demo or access to their tech support system, you will be left guessing as to how good
the system really is. We at PowerBBS give you full access to the software to try it out
for yourself. You will know for sure whether it meets your needs or not. Don't be left
guessing. Remember, one in the hand is worth two in the bush! You want to buy software,
not promises.