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==History== The first version of PCBoard was released in 1983. Clark Development Company (CDC) pioneered the [[FILE_ID.DIZ]] format<ref name="fiddiz">Richard Holler (May 17, 1994), [http://artscene.textfiles.com/information/faq-file_id.txt FAQ file_id.diz], ''ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals)'', online version from Textfiles.com retrieved August 4, 2007</ref> as well as a powerful [[scripting programming language|scripting language]] (PPL), which supported modifications and to a large degree replacement of most standard commands and processes. A compiled interpreter script written in PPL was called PPE (PCBoard Programming Executable). PPEs were generated by the PCBoard Programming Language Compiler (PPLC), which was an optional tool provided by Clark Development Company and was also available for purchase as stand alone tool. It was less than $100 by itself and less than $50 in combination with any BBS license. This allowed programmers to develop PPEs for PCBoard without having to purchase a PCBoard BBS license. Also optional and available by itself were the printed PCBoard manual and the printed PPLC reference handbook. <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:PCBoard 150 01.png|thumb|left|250px|Screenshot of PC-Board 15.0 Sysop Menu]] --> The [[script language]] was introduced with version 15.0 and made this version of PCBoard even more successful than PCBoard V14.5. Various [[BBS door|door programs]] were in use, including Sam Smith's Prodoor, which added a full screen editor and other features which were later included in PCBoard itself. The script language PPL and PPE's which became more and more available, increased the popularity of PCBoard and emerged by the mid nineties as the de facto-standard BBS system for [[warez]] [[Bulletin board system|BBS]] on the IBM PC. The warez BBSs used mostly pirated versions of the BBS software and thus did not appear in any official sales or usage statistic for the software. Despite the high price tag Clark Development Company sold more than 50,000 PCBoard licenses by 1995. The last full release of PCBoard by Clark Development Company was version 15.3 in September 1996. Clark Technologies, a division of Clark Development Company announced on July 29, 1996 the availability of [[source code]] and [[OEM]] licenses for the PCBoard BBS software.<ref>MURRAY, Utah, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110516164159/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18526002.html Clark Technologies Offers Source Code and OEM Licenses for PCBoard], ''PR Newswire via Highbeam.com'', retrieved June 7, 2007</ref> The final release was 15.4 [[Software_release_life_cycle#Beta|beta]], which had a one-month trial period. Later, the lead software engineer from Clark Development Company released information on how to bypass the trial period timeout;<ref>David Terry (June 16, 1997), [http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/software/IBM/DOS/PCBOARD/pcb-1997-06-16-terry.txt (1 Mw-tech) PCBoard Beta Patch], ''bbsdocumentary.com'', retrieved June 4, 2007</ref> the timeout had been inserted as a reminder and had not been intended to permanently disable the software. Clark Development Company went [[bankruptcy|bankrupt]] in July 1997 and closed its offices without prior warning, leaving a great number of upset customers behind. Customers were never notified by the company, and customers who had just purchased licences for the software were not notified, refunded or provided access to the software they had paid for.<ref>Lisa Carricaburu (Friday, June 20, 1997), "Clark Development Is No More" ([http://timeline.textfiles.com/1997/ online at textfiles.com]),''The Salt Lake Tribune''</ref>
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