 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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The Value of Membership
You are a member of Melbourne PC User Group Inc (unless you bought this magazine at a newsstand). Many of you joined, like I did, only for the magazine, but that is only one aspect of membership. You pay for annual membership in the group, not for a magazine subscription. I'm not going to lose any sleep if PC Update is all that you need (or have time for) for your membership money, but if you expect this magazine to answer all your computing queries then you could be disappointed. I am repeating this annual message because we expect to gain many new members at PC90.
To gain full benefit of membership you must make the effort to meet fellow members. If you live in the country and don't know another member you should encourage other PC enthusiasts to join... The point I am making is that you will learn a lot by comparing notes with fellow users. If you can do so, watch a fellow user operate his or her machine. It can be quite enlightening.
For example, a few of my friends use a program for 80386 machines that enables them to run several programs at once. "Running several programs" does not necessarily mean that all programs are doing something all the time - it often means that they are "loaded," waiting to be used. For example, they print something from their word processor, and before the printing is completed they switch to a game and play a couple of rounds, or try out a new shareware package. Without such a program they would have to wait for the printing to be completed before they could run another program. You might feel that the enforced rest is good, but the point is that watching another user can be a worthwhile experience.
Some of my friends get excited over Word for Windows, or WordPerfect, or (shudder) - better not name it. I was brought up on the WordStar family and its famous "diamond" set of keys for moving the cursor. Many of these keystrokes are still used by other programs, so I feel comfortable with them. I used to think that I can do "everything I need to do" with my favourite word processor, so I used to ignore the Johnnies-come-lately, such as WordPerfect. Recently I took the time to talk to a WordPerfect expert and realised that despite all the crazy (to a WordStar user) keystrokes, that program and its stable mates add up to a very nice package. Of course I may not switch (yet) but I have learnt not to be so smug.
Communications Articles
Another reason for writing in this vein is that two people have written to say that they don't know what the BBS is or how to use it. If I cannot get a member to write on this topic I will try to get an excellent article that was recently published by the Canberra group. The theme for the next issue of PC Update is Communications - if you can write about modems, BBSs, dial-up services such as Telecom Discovery, PC Magnet, APC Magnet, etc please leave your phone number with the Admin Officer and I will call you.
Human Networks
I am slow to adopt buzzwords but one that is making sense is NETWORKING (of people, not computers). It involves people like us talking to one another and establishing "feedback mechanisms" with "compatible" people. In simpler language, make some new friends who share your interests. The term probably originated in the computer industry but is applicable to many human relationships.
Questionnaire
If you haven't yet completed the questionnaire that was published last
month please do so and return it by 31 August. Don't find an excuse for not sending
it - even if you joined recently the committee would like to read your answers to as many
questions as possible. The questionnaire needs no stamp if posted in Australia, but note that the Freepost number
applies only to this mailing.
PC Update BBS
The editorial team cannot guarantee that articles left on the main BBS will be collected in time for publication in the next issue, so please use the
PC Update BBS for submitting material for publication.
Contributions
Some people write and complain that they can never keep up with all these
'changing' rules about submitting contributions. What has not changed but has only been spelled out is the
requirement for articles to contain balance. I will soon summarise the submission guidelines (not rules) so we have one less thing to worry about.
Weird Articles Seen Here
A few people have commented about the weird non-computing articles I had published recently. If they had read the editorial that month they would have learnt that I was trying to point out that USENET covers many non-computing topics too.
Flattery
For a few months now I have noticed that another user group's magazine has taken on an appearance similar to this one. Yet another group has adopted our group's aims verbatim. No problems in either case, as it is nice to know that we are doing
something right.
Reprinted from the August 1990 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
