Ward Christensen
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Ward Christensen, born in West Bend, Wisconsin, was the founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system (BBS) ever brought online. He started development during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois, and officially established CBBS four weeks later, on February 16, 1978.[1][2][3]
Christensen was noted for building software tools for his needs. He wrote a cassette-based operating system before floppies and hard disks were common. When he lost track of the source code for some programs he wrote ReSource, an iterative disassembler for the 8080, to help him regenerate the source code. When he needed to send files to Randy Suess he wrote XMODEM.
Christensen received two 1992 Dvorak Awards for Excellence in Telecommunications, one with Randy Seuss for developing the first BBS, and a lifetime achievement award "for outstanding contributions to PC telecommunications."[4] In 1993 he received the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[5] He also was an initial inductee into the Shareware Hall of Fame in 1997.[6]
Christensen has been working for IBM as a technical sales specialist since 1968.[7][8]
[edit] References
- ^ Rey Barry, "The Origin of Computer Bulletin Boards".
- ^ Rupert Goodwins, "Online communities turn twenty-five".
- ^ Smart Computing Encyclopedia: Ward Christensen.
- ^ Dvorak Awards for Excellence in Telecommunications
- ^ Second Annual EFF Pioneer Awards
- ^ Shareware Hall Of Fame.
- ^ re: R/1ST BBS QUESTIONS (Msg 46394) from Ward Christensen to Steve Culver, July 31, 1993.
- ^ IBM Employee Directory: Ward Christensen
