From WebBBS to Tetra-WebBBS - The History

Tetra-WebBBS is a follow-up of WebBBS, a web-based forumsoftware originally programmed by Darryl Burgdorf.
To keep memory alive this document describes the history since the early days of WebBBS.

The Roots

Back in December 1996 the initial public release of WebBBS 1.00 appeared on the net.
Only a month later, on 01/19/1997, version 2.00 was pushed out of the garage.
The first shareware version, WebBBS 3.00, was released in July 1998. Several minor releases followed until mid 1999.
By the end of 1999 major improvements resulted in WebBBS 4.00, released on 12/17/99. - It was a great time on the net those days. Interested and supportive people built a busy community providing a lot of feedback which resulted in a total of 12 follow-up releases until version 4.33 was ready by August 2000.
WebBBS versions 5.0x and 5.1x showed up by 2001 and 2002.

WebBBS 5.12 was the last official version released by Darryl Burgdorf on 12/07/02.

A State of Flux

By the end of 2002, Darryl's development suddenly stopped for private reasons.
It took some time until somewhen early 2004 Darryl decided to hand over development to another person. The community was eager awaiting improvements and new versions. Rumor started about a version 6. - Unfortunately nothing happened. No new version was released for two more years. Only a few addicted users had private modifications in place and kept the community going as good as possible.

Finally, on 04/01/2006, Darryl pulled the plug and made a post on awsd.com's support board, asking for input on how WebBBS and the other scripts of his WebScripts collection could be released under a license allowing further development by everybody.
To cut a long story short, Darryl followed a suggestion to release his scripts under the same license as Perl, the underlying programming language.

Attempting Resurrection

Darryl's decision to make his WebScript collection available for further devolpment inspired a few of the remaining addicted long-time users.
Four people unrelated to Darryl finally found an agreement with him to derive a follow-up product under their own proprietary license.
That actually was the time when Tetra-WebBBS was born.

Team efforts resulted in Tetra-WebBBS version 5.20 released in fall 2006 and version 5.21 a few months later.
During 2007 things changed. Tetra-Team broke apart and three out of the four people who started in 2006 left the project one way or the other.
By the beginning of 2008 it was Steve, who joined in 2007, and me remaining to work on the project.

Full Steam Ahead

Final release of Tetra-WebBBS 5.30 in April 2008 was very successfull.
A couple of long-time WebBBS users upgraded some larger sites and started to support the project on an ongoing basis.

Since mid 2008 the project is in a very stable state.
Development is continously moving forward, resulting in a major release of Tetra-WebBBS 6.00 early 2009 and 6.10 by the end of 2009.
A couple of sites continously support the project.
That's a great summary so far and a good foundation for further steps.

Looking ahead the project is fine as well.
Plans and detailed ToDo lists are ready for further development for the foreseeable future.
The remaining old codebase of WebBBS is modernized step by step as an ongoing process.
A lot of ideas are in our minds for even more versions to come.

Overall it's a story with a happy end.
Who would have expected such a break through back in 2006 when Darryl pulled the plug.

Thanks Darryl!
Thanks for starting WebBBS more than 10 years back and thanks for allowing further development to Tetra-WebBBS.