bbs

4 definitions found

bbs - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  bbs
      n 1: a computer that is running software that allows users to
           leave messages and access information of general interest
           [syn: bulletin board system, bulletin board,
           electronic bulletin board, bbs]

bbs - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  bulletin board system
  bboard
  BBS
  bulletin board
  CBBS
  
     <communications, application> (BBS, bboard /bee'bord/)
  
     A computer and associated software which typically provides an
     electronic message database where people can log in and leave
     messages.  Messages are typically split into topic groups
     similar to the newsgroups on Usenet (which is like a
     distributed BBS).  Any user may submit or read any message in
     these public areas.
  
     The term comes from physical pieces of board on which people
     can pin messages written on paper for general consumption - a
     "physical bulletin board".  Ward Christensen, the programmer
     and operator of the first BBS (on-line 1978-02-16) called it a
     CBBS for "computer bulletin board system".
  
     Apart from public message areas, a BBS may provide archives of
     files, personal electronic mail and any other services or
     activities of interest to the bulletin board's system operator
     (the "sysop").  Thousands of local BBSes are in operation
     throughout the world, typically run by amateurs for fun out of
     their homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each.
     Although BBSes have traditionally been the domain of
     hobbyists, an increasing number of BBSes are connected
     directly to the Internet, and many BBSes are currently
     operated by government, educational, and research
     institutions.  Fans of Usenet and Internet or the big
     commercial time-sharing bboards such as CompuServe, CIX
     and GEnie tend to consider local BBSes the low-rent district
     of the hacker culture, but they serve a valuable function by
     knitting together lots of hackers and users in the
     personal-micro world who would otherwise be unable to
     exchange code at all.
  
     Use of this term for a Usenet newsgroup generally marks one
     either as a newbie fresh in from the BBS world or as a real
     old-timer predating Usenet.
  
     (2005-09-20)
  

bbs - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  BBS
   /B.B.S/, n.
  
     [common; abbreviation, "Bulletin Board System"] An electronic
  bulletin
     board system; that is, a message database where people can log in and
     leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into topic group
     s. The term was especially applied to the thousands of local
  BBS
     systems that operated during the pre-Internet microcomputer era of
     roughly 1980 to 1995, typically run by amateurs for fun out of their
     homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each. Fans of Usenet
     and Internet or the big commercial timesharing bboards such as
     CompuServe and GEnie tended to consider local BBSes the low-rent
     district of the hacker culture, but they served a valuable function
  by
     knitting together lots of hackers and users in the personal-micro
     world who would otherwise have been unable to exchange code at all.
     Post-Internet, BBSs are likely to be local newsgroups on an ISP;
     efficiency has increased but a certain flavor has been lost. See also
     bboard.
  

bbs - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :

  BBS
         Bulletin Board System (telecommunication)