The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Prez Said Ron Lyth

We thank the outgoing Committee for the work they did and we hope that they will continue as active members and give freely of their special skills for the good of the group. 

Seeing as you are likely to be hearing a lot from me, I think it only fair to tell you a little about why I was fool (brave?) enough to allow myself to be nominated for this position. 

I am an independent communications consultant working from home on my own. I have some programs which are selling well and providing my major source of income. These programs are written in Turbo Pascal, and to keep abreast of developments in that programming environment, I joined the then Turbo Pascal User Group. This group was amalgamated with Melb PC in July this year so I am a new member. 

I have been active on both the Turbo Pascal and Public Domain SIG's because, from the beginning, I realised that I needed Melb PC more than Melb PC needed me. As a one-man band you miss out on the free and easy exchange of information which is so much a feature of the salaried worker's environment, and groups such as Melb PC then become a major source of help, hints and contacts without which your personal productivity just stagnates. 

You can rest assured therefore that I will do all I can to maintain and, where possible, improve the range of services offered to members.

APOLOGIES 

We apologise for the late issue of this PC Update, but the recent troubles within the group resulted in the freezing of the Group's main bank account. It may have been possible to prepare and print a November issue, but Australia Post have this funny little quirk; they like and, indeed, expect prepayment for all delivered articles.

Obviously we couldn't pay them with a rubber cheque so you have had to wait for this.

THE NEW CONSTITUTION 

This Committee is constituted under the pre-July 1986 constitution (hereafter referred to as the old constitution) because the constitution agreed to at the AGM is not acceptable to the Corporate Affairs Commission and the amended new constitution put to members at the Guy Fawkes meeting also was found to have some legal failings and was not accepted by the meeting. 

The Committee will be ironing out these legalities as soon as possible and the new constitution will be voted on at a Special General Meeting early in 1987. We will recommend that the new constitution become effective from the next AGM so that the Group will be spared a third election of office-bearers for the 1986/87 year. Our thanks to member Tony Lang for his expert legal opinion on the proposed new constitution. For his efforts he has won a place on the constitutional review sub-committee.

FINANCIAL REPORT 1985/86 

The Committee has examined the status of the report presented at the AGM and can find no legal requirement for the presentation of audited reports. We will therefore be lodging the reports as presented with the Corporate Affairs Commission and will include an adjustment item on the 1986/87 accounts after the current audit is completed.

BOAT CRUISE 

The Christmas Party Yarra River cruise is on!! We hope to see as many as possible there. If you have not yet booked there are still some places free if you hurry. 

This is not just another Australian booze party, although those tastes will be catered for, and for those who, like me, find that booze and brain work don't mix there will be ample soft refreshments. Skipper Tom Coleman assures me that a fun night will be had and you will see your city from a new vantage point. Be in it.

THANKS TO OLIVETTI 

Our thanks to Olivetti for their generous donation of an Olivetti M24 for use by the Group. The machine will be used for preparing and editing this magazine and is greatly appreciated. While thanking Olivetti I think it only right to thank the previous Committee, especially David Watson, for their efforts in persuading Olivetti to donate the computer. 

The Group also has the use of an IBM portable with a 20 Meg hard disk computer provided by courtesy of Tech-Rentals. This is a replacement for the Compaq portable which we had on loan and means that the Group now has a genuine true-blue PC for demonstrations of software etc. We are all grateful for support from commercial organisations and hope that members will remember their assistance whenever considering a new purchase. 

NEXT YEAR'S PROGRAMME 

The first meeting for 1987 will be at Clunies Ross House at 6pm on Wednesday, February 4. The topics for this meeting are still under discussion and we will publish a program as soon as possible. 

I am very keen to expand the interests and activities of the Group because I am excited by the wealth of talent we have among our members. I do not see why we shouldn't be a world leader among PC user groups. The famous Aussie cultural cringe seems to have infiltrated the PC culture and I don't like it. 

Let's see if we can't get a Home Brew SIG together from the hardware specialists in our ranks, and what about a Graphics SIG? Are there enough people programming in Assembler to make an Assembler SIG a viable concern? And what about Basic, C, Fortran or even (shudder, Cobol) We have also received an offer from a devoted Framework user to establish a Framework SIG so there are many opportunities for potential SIG's. If you are interested in these or other topics let the Committee know so that we can assist in getting together those with similar interests. 

David Jitts has agreed to co-ordinate the Desk-Top Publishing SIG and the other established SIG's will continue as at present. 

We are also aware that there are many members who are unable to participate in the regular meetings of the Group and its SIG's. For these members we are looking to provide some means of electronic access to the facilities of the group.

We have a proposal from a member who is prepared to operate a bulletin board for the Group, and we are interested in looking at the possibilities of using Viatel as the Sydney group do. In the longer term I would like Melb PC to take a leading role in establishing an Australian counterpart to the Byte Information Exchange (BIX) conference system which is being used so well and profitably by programmers, hardware specialists and hobbyists in the USA.

TURBO PASCAL TRAINING COURSE 

Following on the success of the DOS courses organised by Gordon Castle, there will be a Turbo Pascal training course held early in 1987. The aim will be to teach structured programming concepts within the Turbo Pascal programming environment and the course direction will be very much guided by the needs of the participants. 

This Committee is strongly committed to providing all our members with the sort of self-help assistance money cannot buy, so before you shell out big bikkies to a commercial training organisation, see what is available within the group. You may have to wait longer but I'm sure the result will be every bit as good if not better.

PARTING WORDS 

To each and every one of our many members, may you enjoy a happy and holy Christmas, and a prosperous New Year. We look forward to your company in what I am sure will be a most interesting and exciting 1987.

Reprinted from the Nov/Dec 1986 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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