Rich Schinnell was using BBSes in that interesting early time with IBM PCs, when they were a growing force but still not the dominant winners with home computers. As time is going on, it's becoming harder and harder to explain those early days, because it really was a case of the IBM PC and PC Compatibles being just one of another choice in what to use, and so the tight-knit community back then was not just for support but to encourage adoption of their favorite hardware.