On-line Access to Support

by Kester Cranswick
PC Computing, 19th June 1989

A Melbourne bulletin board operation is hoping to convince Australian software suppliers to extend their support services to a dial-up facility.

The service is modelled on US trends, where Compuserve and The Source, have been part of a vendor's support arsenal for years.

The idea is that users dial the service and download the latest device drivers or software patches, put on the bulletin board by the vendor.

PC Connection system operator Lloyd Borrett said that vendors would be offered the service for free.

Users will get free access until December, when the costs of the service will be reviewed. Revenue is generated from tele-shopping services.

Borrett has used the US services himself. For some weeks he had been trying to get EMS 4.0 software from Tech Pacific. He eventually called a US bulletin board and downloaded the software, which had been placed there by Intel. It is now on PC Connection bulletin board for any subscriber to download.

Another US example is Adobe, which puts up screen fonts for users to download free of charge. In Australia, he said, the Adobe distributor charges $40 per font.

"Most vendors are interested," said Borrett. "Most see it as a bit new and radical. No one is used to The Source and Compuserve here."

Already MicroHelp, Microbee and Powertech use the service to support customers.

Borrett said that Australia has the chance to bypass the general purpose bulletin board scene and move directly to small, vendor or product-orientated bulletin boards. Already Ashton-Tate has such a board in the US.

Borrett said that a number of corporations and government departments had asked about the BBS software, with a view to setting up their own bulletin boards. "For a 200-user system it is much cheaper than registering everybody on Keylink," he said.

The board has been running for about four weeks and has over 400 registered users. Less than 10% are under 20 years old.

Currently the board has four lines.