 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Guest Editorial Gary Taig garyt@melbpc.org.au |
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Ash is away yet again so I have some more things to say. Firstly, apologies if you tried but failed to log on and have a look at the robotic dairy last month. In the mad rush to get to print I typed too quickly, relied upon memory when I should have checked back and made probably a dozen other silly mistakes as well. That's "life at the last minute" in the publishing game. May PC Update didn't go anywhere near Steve "sharp eyes" Roberts our proof reader. There just wasn't enough time at the end, and unfortunately it showed. You always see things afterwards!
The correct URL for the robotic dairy is http://www.roboticdairy.com
If anything like that ever happens again, have a look or ask a question in the newsgroup
melbpc.pcupdate.
For many members the milking story brought back memories but one member I've known for a long time wrote in
and said, "I went to school as a 'tike' to Rosedale primary (not Rosadale). Know all about getting up at
five to milk the cows. Did it for years! Your story brings tears of happiness to my eyes"
In doing that Bill showed me yet another typo. I know how to spell Rosedale. Have lived nearby in Maffra and
still have friends there. We've travelled that road for more than 30 years - probably hundreds of times.
Life at the last minute, again.
Late last year when selecting themes for 2002 I considered that some members might appreciate the theme for
June to be accounting software, giving you some up to date knowledge and information for the start of the new
financial year. The only article to arrive came from Bob Mayston who writes the reports for the
Windows and Quicken SIGs. Read Bob's
comprehensive article on Quicken and QuickBooks - I hope you enjoy it. Bob and Quicken SIG convener
Viv Martin would warmly welcome you on the 4th Thursday each month.
SIGs? GIGs?
Talking about SIGs. Our management committee has decided to do something about the sometimes inappropriate
use of the acronym SIG. Special Interest Groups have flourished in Melb PC and grown stronger over the years.
But local suburban groups that meet for the sake of meeting, to discuss computing generally rather
than to discuss a specific topic, or regional groups that meet, as I wrote in PC Update several years
ago, "not because of a common interest, but because of a common problem... their distance from
Melbourne", have always been lumped under the same heading, SIGs. The regional groups were named
Branches at one stage, but probably not officially. I don't recall seeing any announcements to that
effect and it doesn't seem to have taken hold anyway. In contrast, the suburban groups were always SIGs.
Every now and then someone would complain or comment about this ambiguity so a decision has been made; we
now have SIGs and GIGs. The GIGs are General Interest Groups and Noel Peters has provided a break up (see his
article at [][][]).
Proof Reading
Earlier on this page I mentioned Steve Roberts. Sharp Eyes has been proof reading much of PC
Update each month since early in the year. Steve answered my call for help last year and having, apart
from very sharp eyes, an office fax on a dedicated line, he is the perfect proof reader. I can send pages by
WinFax Pro straight out of PageMaker and do it at literally any time of the day or night. The
only real problem with faxing to a proof reader is, when working at 4.00 am you can't fax to someone who has
their machine hooked up to the house phone. The office fax was just what we needed.
Steve tried to warn me, "I'm very fussy" he said. That was music to my ears; I wanted
someone fussy. Anyway, I wasn't going to announce Steve's involvement with PC Update until such time
as I was better organised and could send all pages to him, every month. But, since the cat is out of the bag,
"Huge thanks, Steve. I'm sure readers appreciate the pages you do see"
How will you know which pages I sent for proof reading? If you find an error, Steve hasn't seen that page.
Nothing gets past him, not one single error. I've known Steve to log onto the Internet and check a company
name mentioned in someone's report. "I thought it sounded wrong", he said, and it was. What a magic
proof reader! PC Update is all the better for Steve's help; a touch of polish, and I can't thank him
enough.
Reprinted from the June 2002 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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