 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group In the Saddle Peter Smith |
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The Inner Workings
Recently your committee became aware that a few members were of the opinion that the committee was not being as open as possible about some of its internal workings. There was no desire on our part to hide anything, merely the belief that the vast bulk of members - the "silent majority' - are happy to be uninvolved in the day-to-day minutiae of the organisation.
Nevertheless, starting immediately, we are going to devote some little space each issue to printing the most recently available minutes from committee meetings. This issue is a bumper one-taking advantage of the lack of Random Access (no January meeting) and a smaller than normal SIG section (also due to the holiday period) - we have published all minutes from last year's interim committee and the current committee, 8 pages. I promise a much smaller set next month! I have said before, and repeat again, if any member has concerns about, or suggestions for, the way group should be run, please contact a committee member or come to a committee meeting. Your ideas and suggestions will be welcome!
I am grateful for the input we have received, often what you see is not what we see, the feedback helps us keep things on the rails. Sometimes what seems major to us is of no consequence to members and the reverse applies too.
Membership Fees
This is a difficult paragraph. As I write, the February meeting is in the future. Assuming the membership at that meeting supports the increase in fees (which your committee is in favour of), I want to remind you of the opportunity to delay its effect on you. You can pay any number of year's membership fees in advance, before 31 March, at the current $30 rate. Your membership expiry date will be advanced by 12 months for each $30 paid. (No part years
please!)
Office Update
The first stage of the partitioning work is complete - SIG space is more usable, the training area is the right size. The office space is corning into shape. We have acquired a large amount of
second hand furniture at extremely reasonable prices (mostly from receiver' s auctions). Our
sub-tenant is in occupation, defraying some of our costs. Visit the March Monthly meeting to participate in a
novel way of helping us furnish the office, while potentially benefiting
personally!
Also in March, we will be having a visit from Borland's Greg Joy. Greg is being posted overseas, so this will be your and our last chance to see him in person for a while. Greg has been one of the major instigators of User Group
support - he and other Borlanders have given numerous presentations to both our main monthly meetings and to numerous
SIGS. Come and wish him farewell and bon voyage!
BBS
Hard work late in January has seen a partial completion of the BBS upgrades. We are now waiting for some software to interface our messages on the new
BBS to the world-wide system we currently communicate with (it's due real soon
now!). Many thanks to our Sysops, Colin and Doug - as an out-of-sight, back room task, being a sysop ranks higher than anything else I can think of I.
Reprinted from the March 1993 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
