the users to discover the power this advanced implementation. IPAD In 1993, Phil Becker saw the approaching commercial migration to the Internet and started work on the IPAD (Internet Protocol Adapter) project. It was designed as an embedded hardware+software solution that originally focused on bidirectional telnet access to TBBS. It also provided other services (RAS, DNS, FTP, etc.) for those TBBS callers on dial in lines using the IPAD machine as a direct gateway. This allowed many IPAD owners to more easily become Internet Service Providers (ISP's) as BBS usage on the whole began to wane, caused by the growing popularity of the Internet. The IPAD was extremely popular with commercial TBBS operators. Unfortunately, it was very expensive and beyond the reach of most hobby TBBS sysops that had already invested thousands of dollars into TBBS plus option modules for use on free systems with no hope of ever making a profit. Aftermath eSoft and TBBS went their separate ways as eSoft pursued the Internet market. All new TBBS development ended in 1997 and by the end of 1999 all technical support for TBBS and associated products officially ended. New TBBS sales continued through 2003 as part of vertical applications built with the TDBS language. TBBS was until recently supported by a user support forum at TBBS.org. IPAD is currently developed and supported by the IPAD Owners Association, Inc. eSoft is located in Broomfield, Colorado. References Sources External links IPAD Owners Association, Inc. ONE BBSCON 1994: TBBS UltraChat, presented by Bob Hartman ONE BBSCON 1994: TBBS: Future Directions presented by Phil Becker, Bob Hartman Bulletin board system software DOS software