The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group A History of Melb PC Lloyd Borrett - Founder

THE BEGINNING 

Back in 1983 I was working as BHP's only full-time PC Specialist at their head office in Melbourne. I was also writing the "Your IBM Computer" column for "Your Computer" magazine. In one of the columns I put forward the idea of a user group for PC users. 

At the time none existed. There were user groups for Apple, CP/M, Commodore, etc... users, but these seemed to be all aimed at hobbyist users. The market for PC/MS-DOS PCs was almost all corporate, government and education. Such people were unlikely to be attracted to the existing user groups. I had been a President of the Data General User Group and felt that a group based on similar principles would be appropriate for PC users. 

Well the response was such that I started to plan for a first meeting. Computer Power, then an IBM PC dealer, offered the meeting room in their St Kilda Road offices as a venue and we held the first meeting in November 1983. 

Some forty people showed up, which was excellent considering the limited publicity the meeting had. I can remember giving a very nervous presentation about the work I was doing at BHP. Then we got down to the serious business of appointing a three person working committee to get a group going. 

Christopher Leptos, Robert Taylor and yours truly were it. We started to organise a second meeting for February 1984. Chris was able to obtain the use of the meeting room at IBM's Sturt Street premises. He also achieved much better publicity of the event. 

Two days before the meeting IBM tried to withdraw the offer of their meeting room! Some of the IBM mainframe and mini computer related groups had complained. Apparently they didn't have use of IBM's facilities and felt we shouldn't be given special treatment: They conveniently forgot that their groups met during the day when IBM's facilities were used for other purposes. Fortunately, Chris managed to convince IBM to keep its commitment to us.

Approximately 150 people turned up for the meeting. Standing room only. The presentations were about networks and mainframe communications. Heavy! We elected a full committee of:

 PUBIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE 

I had a collection of 40 public domain software diskettes from the PC/Blue collection which I handed over to the group. That together with the names of some contacts at other groups in the USA became the basis of our current software collection. 

David Jitts took on the role of software librarian, a role he was to continue in brilliant style until handing over to the current librarian, Leon Cohen, some years later. Back then there was no way we could convince David that the librarian should take a place on the committee. How times have changed, for David has since become a valuable committee member. 

A MAGAZINE 

Christopher Leptos arranged for us to have the assistance of Teksetgraphics to typeset our magazine, and Terry Adair and myself got stuck into producing it. The first edition, all 12 pages of it, came out in March 1984. We were the first user group in Australia to have a professionally typeset magazine! 

Unfortunately for this first edition and many subsequent ones, most by-lines read "By Lloyd Borrett". It has never been easy to get people to write for the magazine. But in spite of that I think it was an acceptable first effort. 

We had blatantly ripped off cartoons from other magazines in an effort to tart it up a bit. And we had hunted high and low to find a few humorous items. I had also placed little quotations in appropriate places. (Perhaps David Jitts could consider reinstating this practise. I think it added a lot of character to the publication.) 

Chris Leptos also arranged for the group to become an affiliate of the Australian Computer Society. This gave us access to Clunies Ross House at reasonable rates and this is where our third, and all subsequent meetings, were held. 

CONTROVERSY 

Our third meeting was perhaps the most controversial we have ever had. At the time copyright was a major issue in the computer world. Our guest speaker was Albert Langer who had some very radical proposals on copyright protection and the place of computer-based technology in Australian society. 

Few, if any, on the committee agreed with these views but we all agreed that providing a forum for such a debate was a valid role for Melb PC. In fact the intolerance of the computer industry to user groups and the fact that we held this meeting probably did Melb PC some harm. 

At the time users groups were seen as a forum for hobbyists and hackers. Another PC related group had been formed. Their meetings consisted of about 10-15 people bringing their systems along to the meeting and spending the night copying proprietary software. All user groups were being portrayed by our "ever accurate" media interests in this light. 

Robert Taylor had all but ceased to be involved with Melb PC as he was heavily involved in getting the Lotus 1-2-3 User Association up and running. MelbPC and the Lotus groups were probably the only groups at the time actively trying to create a more professional image for microcomputer user groups. 

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS 

Melb PC actively tried to get various SIGs started right from the beginning. We believed that they would be the vehicle to keep the group responsive and relevant as it grew. A main monthly meeting and a magazine was but a fine basis on which to build. By forming a SIG when enough members showed interest in a particular topic we could not only provide a better service to our existing members, but also attract many new members. 

However it's people that make such things happen and in some cases these people didn't want to be associated with Melb PC. So other separate groups formed. Since then some of these groups, such as the Turbo Pascal Group, have merged with Melb PC. Some have disbanded. Still others continue to this day. 

CONTINUED GROWTH 

In July 1984 Melb PC had its first stand at a computer show. PC'84 was held at the World Trade Centre and we manned a stand with enthusiastic volunteers. Chris Leptos and myself were able to get various computer companies to provide us with furniture and systems. I had just started up the PC Connection BBS which was then freely accessible to anyone who dialled up, so we demonstrated the system on the stand. 

Perhaps the greatest find of the show was Ian Mintern from Hamilton. Ian came down from the country to visit the show and someone convinced him to join the group. They also convinced him to help man the stand. He took to the role of recruiting new members like a duck to water.

I will never forget the moment when Ian met a fellow PC user from Hamilton on the last day of the show. They got together in a comer of the stand and started to organise a Hamilton Branch of Melb PC. Since then Ian has showed up at almost every show Melb PC has been involved in. Always keen to help and brilliant at convincing others of the groups benefits. 

The show saw a significant increase in our membership. And in August 1984, as President of Melb PC, I was invited by IBM to attend the official opening of their Wangaratta plant. Recognition at last! 

UNITED WE STAND... 

It is sad that we were unable to convince the Lotus 1-23 User Group to form as a SIG of Melb PC instead of as a separate organisation. And when Les Bell started the dBASE User Group I tried to convince him that it should be a SIG of Melb PC. Apparently most of the people attending the dBASE meetings were CP/M users and very anti the increasingly dominant PC/MSDOS marketplace. 

However Melb PC was taking an active role in trying to assist other groups interstate to get up and going. Believing that similar groups around Australia should share appropriate resources, such as a combined magazine and a public domain software collection, we formed the Australian PC User Association. 

The idea was to set up a central public domain librarian responsible for sourcing software from all contacts and seeing that the librarian of each affiliated group was kept up-to-date. It would be each individual groups responsibility to decide how to best provide access to the library to its members. 

PC UPDATE IS BORN 

Aust-PC would also produce a national newsletter to be distributed to the members of all affiliated groups. In September 1984, the Melb PC magazine was renamed to PC Update, and it became an Aust-PC publication. Rod Thompson had taken on the role of editor - arguably the best we've had to date. Copies of PC Update were sent to the then forming Perth and Sydney user groups. 

We had lost the use of Teksetgraphics' typesetting facilities, but Rod quickly came up with a new format for the magazine. First the articles were printed using a 15 pitch daisywheel on a letter quality printer. Then a photocopier was used to reduce the subsequent galleys even further. Rod would then paste the magazine together on layout boards ready for the printer. 

Although Rod was totally new to all of this he did a magnificent job, spending up to 60 hours a month producing the magazine. (David Jitts probably doesn't realize how easy our magazine production is today, in comparison.) 

CHANGES AT THE HELM 

In February 1985, because of changed work commitments Chris Leptos, Stephen Wagen, John Rundle and myself all resigned from the committee. Thus the committee lost four key members in one hit and had to look around for new blood. 

Felix Hofmann took on the role of President. Mike Hosking became Vice President (or President of Vice, as he always put it). Tim O'Connor became Secretary, and Joe De Simone became Publicity Officer. As it turned out I needn't have resigned and continued to serve on the committee as the Past President. 

Then in March 1985, just as the new committee was starting to get organised, Rod Thompson announced he was going to have to step down as Editor in April. 

VOLUNTEERS GET MORE THAN THEY GIVE 

By July 1985, David Watson had taken on the role of editor. Because he was unable to devote the amount of time that seemed necessary to produce the magazine, David tried to get a Newsletter SIG going. This was never as quite as successful as planned but the magazine continued to be produced on time and be improved. 

I remember well the paste-up sessions that would take place each month. A group of people, mostly committee members, would gather to paste-up the magazine. My favourite role was doing the fiddly little bits (like Slartibartfast) putting the page numbers and magazine name at the bottom of each page. 

Later in the month a similar group, often the same people, would gather and stuff magazines into plastic bags, seal them, label them, and then make sure they were correctly bundled for Australia Post. During such sessions interesting discussions would frequently start. I think we shared more of our experiences and learnt more about PCs at these sessions than at any of the other Melb PC activities. 

There have been many people who have contributed by performing numerous similar tasks during the history of Melb PC. And yet every single one I ever questioned, always believed that he or she received a lot more than they ever contributed. 

MOVING ON... 

At the AGM in July 1985 a new committee was elected:

We had five SIGs. David Jitts was still the Group Librarian and there were some 200 disks in the collection. 

The PC Update magazine was typically 44 pages long. Much of the material was being sourced via exchanges with USA user groups such as Capital PC and the Boston Computer Society. We never seemed to be able to get enough Melb PC members to contribute their experiences, reviews, and ideas. 

The group was getting big, and the administration workload was often becoming too much for the too few left with the task. This situation was to get a lot worse before it got better. 

AUST-PC FAILS 

Aust-PC was formed the idea was that all groups affiliated to it would solicit advertising for the magazine and thus cover production costs. Each group would contribute articles and news items to the national publication. Affiliated groups were still free to produce their own newsletter, and they were responsible for distribution of PC Update to their own members. 

Naturally until advertising could cover costs we had to charge for the magazine. So we passed on the $1.00 per copy charge to these other groups. Unfortunately our efforts at co-operation weren't returned. 

In Melbourne we regarded the magazine as a part of the membership subscription. Sydney were charging the same fee for membership but selling the magazine to members who turned up at meetings at a significant profit! Sydney members who couldn't attend meetings or wouldn't pay for it, didn't get the magazine.

The Sydney committee were unwilling to contribute any advertising revenue or articles towards the magazine. When we pointed out that significant numbers of NSW people were joining Melb PC simply for access to PC Update, the Sydney committee responded with a proposal that we introduce a special subscription rate for PC Update that would apply to members of the Sydney group. 

With attitudes like these prevailing, PC Update went back to being a publication of Melb PC and Aust-PC was disbanded. This perhaps explains why future Melb PC committees have been less than enthusiastic at subsequent proposals of co-operation from the Sydney group. 

One day perhaps we will see a national body created and thus achieve greater interaction and co-operation between all groups. Certainly they would all become better because of it. 

ANOTHER SHOW 

Melbourne hosted the Pan Pacific show in September 1985. Melb PC didn't intend to man a stand at the show, but after the show had been running a few days the organisers approached us. There were a few spare stands and they asked us if we could man one.

Joe De Simone did a magnificent job of getting furniture and computers for the stand from numerous companies who had displays at the show. David Watson and Anne Rouse did a fantastic job at short notice in arranging for leaflets to be available. Liz Klar showed up to help man the stand together with the above people. And then just as we were about to get going Ian Mintern showed up! 

For two days this team did a great job fielding questions and handing out promotional material. We even met a number of members from the Capital PC User Group and the Boston Computer Society, two U.S. groups we have close contacts with. 

The membership numbers underwent yet another rapid increase. 

TRAINING GETS OFF THE GROUND 

Towards the end of 1985 we finally started to get some organised training sessions being run by Melb PC. Gary Bryant, Anne Rouse, Tim O'Connor and Tom Coleman all played significant roles in establishing this service. 

The level of activity in the running of training courses has varied substantially in the last two years. For quite a while most of the burden sat firmly on the shoulders of Tom Coleman and Gordon Castle. 

As always, it comes down to having the people prepared to but in the time. You would think that with membership numbers growing rapidly, more people would be available to improve existing services and introduce new ones. And yet the number of active volunteers within the group has remained fairly constant. 

MEMBERSHIP CONTINUES TO INCREASE 

The huge increase in membership between mid '85 and mid '86 started to put a lot of pressure on the volunteers involved with providing the groups services. Some dropped out and others stepped in, but overall the actual number of active volunteers remained fairly constant. 

However members came from everywhere to set up and man the stand at PC'86. (Ian Mintern maintained tradition by showing showing up yet again.) This show alone saw membership increase by 400 in just two months. The June '86 monthly meeting saw us fill the room at Clunies Ross House for the first time. Standing room only with some 350 people packed in. 

At this time the Turbo Pascal Group joined forces with Melb PC. 

CRISIS POINT 

We were perhaps being a bit too ambitious in the rush to introduce new services. Certainly I thought more volunteers would come forward to help provide these services. 

But the result was severe overload on the existing volunteers. And many functions, especially the overall administration of the group, was suffering badly. We seemed to be doing well financially, but the records were a mess and no serious attempt at budgeting and forward planning was happening.

By the middle of 1986 the strain was starting to show. Under ever increasing pressure to keep things going those actively involved with the running of Melb PC were starting to come apart at the seams. 

One of the biggest problems during the period '85-'86 was that a number of people took up "positions" within the group, but didn't actually carry out the actual functions of the position. And the active volunteers were not prepared to call a slacker a slacker, force the issue, and if necessary get rid of the inactive volunteer and attempt to recruit someone else. 

In the lead up to the July '86 AGM and elections, the active volunteers tried to work out an acceptable basis on which the group could be organised and services be maintained. With this largely in place I was persuaded to continue as President. However at the AGM it all started to unravel, and I felt compelled to resign and let someone else take over. 

This seemed to shock many members, most of whom would have been totally unaware of the strain being placed on those actively involved in running Melb PC. 

TURBULENT TIMES 

The committee after the July 1986 AGM was:

Little happened to relieve the strain on active volunteers, and it started to show as services began to suffer. The volunteers seemed to split into three camps. Two camps took up opposing positions. Nothing the other camp would do was right. The third camp desperately tried to resolve the conflicts without taking sides. 

It all came to a head some three months later. One camp had effectively frozen the assets and funds of the group. The other was trying to carry on as if nothing was happening, manoeuvring to gain control of the committee. Things were not looking good. 

I had become a rather inactive member of the group by now, starting to concentrate on my professional career for a change. Eventually members of the "neutral" camp approached me, and asked for my assistance in resolving the differences. A Special General Meeting was held in November and new elections were held. Prior to the meeting agreement was reached that members of the two opposing camps would not seek re-election. 

I had reluctantly agreed to serve again as President, but when Ron Lyth steeped forward prepared to take on the task, I happily stepped aside. 

The committee elected was:

David Jitts had stepped up to take on the formidable job of editing PC Update magazine. And this time he finally became a committee member. 

REBUILDING 

Some changes to that line-up have happened since then, notably John Drake taking on the position of Treasurer in March 1987. John Drake and David Owen have done a magnificent job in the many months since in getting the administration of Melb PC up to the highest standard it has ever been. 

And if you knew the mess it was in you'd appreciate it even more. A huge backlog of work had to cleared up. And at the same time the group was going through its highest growth phase ever! 

BETTER THAN EVER 

David Jitts assisted, by John Wilkins, has taken our magazine into yet another new era. Somehow the members have found inspiration and are contributing great material. We are now making full use of the power available to use by desktop publishing tools. Dudley Horque has done a great job adding a touch of humour with his cartoons. John Swale has made sure the magazine is distributed properly and efficiently to all members. 

Leon Cohen and John Beck have kept the public domain collection growing at at ever increasing rate. The collection is now HUGE, and must surely be the largest in Australia. 

New volunteers have stepped forward from time to time to start new services, form new SIGs, run training courses, and fill vacancies. 

Gordon Castle has been brilliant it organising training courses. He has gained permission for the group to use the facilities at RMIT, and has run many of the courses himself. 

Charles Sandercock and Colin Macauley have done a great job in establishing and maintaining the Melb PC bulletin board. It's arguably the most popular and best in Australia. 

We have seen the creation of the DBMS SIG (Ray Watson), the Desktop Publishing SIG (John Wilkins and Roger de Salis), the Tech SIG (Patrick Kearney), and the Hardware SIG (Wayne Coutts and Felix Hofmann). And then there are the regional SIGs, Geelong (Alan Edwards) and Bendigo (Frank Bourke). We now even have "THE MANIFESTO" proposed by David Jitts, and later modified and adopted by the Committee. The stand at the PC'87 show saw yet another huge increase in members. Will it ever stop? I doubt it! 

THE FUTURE 

As we celebrate the fourth birthday of Melb PC and look back over its history we find it is in better shape than ever. A working administration. More services than ever before. 

There are so many exciting things which have happened over the last four years within Melb PC that it would be impossible to tell you about all of them. (Though by the length of this article it must seem I have!) But remember, none of it would have been possible without the contributions of you and your fellow members. 

This "brief" history has highlighted some of the names of people who played major roles in Melb PC. Some are still with us, some have moved on to other things. It's the efforts of these people who have been significant in making Melb PC what it is today. We should thank them all.

I've been the President of Melb PC or on committee for most of its life, but there were many times when the spirit was not there. Things start to get a little difficult and the hurdles seem larger than ever. Amazingly, just as the gloom sets in, along comes someone new who is prepared to throw themselves into the fray. 

Someone who was merely out there in the membership responds by taking responsibility and carrying it through. Contributing some of their own time to help others and, in doing so, themselves. Suddenly everything sorts itself out and we all feed off the injection of new energy. 

Four years old, and more successful than ever. But we are not stopping there. There are ambitious plans for the coming year. A group headquarters, a paid administrator, expansion of existing services, and new services to be nurtured. Our fifth year should be better than ever. 

But remember its your financial support and your help that makes it all happen. Those you have come forward to help in the past have all benefited from the opportunity to test their talents. I'm sure that those who come forward in the future will also find it a positive and worthwhile experience. After all, isn't that the real purpose of a user group.

Happy fourth birthday Melb PC.

Reprinted from the November 1987 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

[About Melbourne PC User Group]