The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Editorial
David Jitts

This month's big news is that the Group has gone on line with its very own Bulletin Board Service. If chatting with a remote computer is the kind of thing that turns you on then see see the article by Charles Sandercock. Charles Wright and Colin McCauley are our volunteer Sysops and we owe them a big vote of thanks for all the hard work that was involved in establishing the system. 

The computer to run the Board was generously furnished without charge by Intelead and this will be enhanced with another hard disk plus a high-density backup floppy drive which, for a change, the Committee actually agreed to buy. While the Committee was in a spending mood, we voted to buy some other very useful and needed hardware, to wit:

  • An upgrade for the AppleLaser printer to convert it into an AppleLaser Plus.
  • A Kodak DATASHOW system, which projects the screen image of a PC onto a large screen. This will be used for lectures and SIG meetings.
I t appears that one of the Rules regarding the use of the Board is that users, in addition to being members of the Group, are expected to to contribute (and we are not talking about money) to the Board's well being and existence in order to draw from its benefits; otherwise, after a while, they are denied access. Seems like an excellent idea; this is what User Groups are all about, helping and sharing. I wonder, however, what would happen if we adopted a similar editorial policy for PC Update? 

In last month's Editorial, I foreshadowed a project, called "Land of OZ", to support the Australian computer industry. The July edition will be dedicated to this project, as advertised elsewhere in this edition. If each of us made a conscious decision to "Be Australian, Buy Australian" when we make our next computer related purchase, then no doubt a lot of benefit would be derived. 

The rumour was true. Gordon Castle has quit. The President has assumed the task of arranging the speakers for the Monthly Meetings but all of Publicity Officer's other roles are, as yet, up for grabs. Why not have a go? We are even proposing that Committee Members get the benefits of the Group's purchases at cost to provide a reward, albeit small, for serving on the Committee. 

The "SIG Signals" column has not had as much support as I hoped. Several co-ordinators haven't turned in reports; but Ray Watson's generous contribution has made up for the rest. If he can keep on writing SIG reports like this month's, (and the SIG hasn't even yet started) I think he will soon be promoted to Editor! 

We have had a disturbing number of complaints regarding poor printing and bad collation of recent editions. If you have been unlucky enough to cop a crookie, please report it to John Swale (phone numbers on inside front cover). An occasional bad copy is, I suppose, inevitable but we need to know how many are slipping through the quality control that the printers should be implementing. If we have any spare copies left, your bad one will be replaced free of charge. 

There was a howl of protest over the the "Oval Office" title for the President's report. Well ..., we received two letters against and none in favour. Seems we have some members who are a little "antiYank". So I concede and have reverted to the old title. But the Editor (be that a male or female person) always gets the last say, so there is still something Oval about that column! 

Now for the heavy bit. If you are overdue to renew your subscriptions to Melb PC, then this may be the last time you will read this magnificent news-letter. You can tell this from the date on the mailing label affixed to the back cover. The Secretary tells me that there is still a large number of members who have not sent in their renewals. He, David Owen, is a delightful man and works like a veritable demon for the benefit of the Group but, nice chap that he really is, he will still strike you from the mailing list and the membership rolls if you do not renew right away ... and we would very much hate to lose you.
 
Reprinted from the May 1987 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

 

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