Twitter, mIRC, forums, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp are messaging platforms that have been used since the internet was created in 1989. The origins of all these platforms can be traced back to the Bulletin Board System (BBS) that existed since the proto-internet era. Last Friday, Ward Christensen, one of the creators of BBS, died at the age of 78.
Ward Christensen and Randy Suess created a BBS in 1978 that allowed individuals with computers to connect to the system using a telephone line. Through BBS files can be uploaded and downloaded. There is a message board service and also a chat room to share with other BBS users. Among the early uses of BBS was to share early software and also view the same inventory of books that could be borrowed from public libraries.
During his lifetime, Christensen worked at IBM from 1968 until he joined in 2012. For his contributions to telecommunications systems using PCs, Christensen and Suess received the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.