The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group PC (President's Comments) George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au

Annual General Meeting and Elections

The November monthly meeting included our AGM, with the tabling and acceptance of minutes and Annual Accounts as published in PC Update, September and November 2001. My thanks to our outgoing Vice-president for his expeditious handling of these procedures during my absence.
 
It was also the time for the annual election of Officers, but as the number of nominations equalled the number of positions, there was no need for a balloted election. From our previous committee, Ian Dewhurst decided not to continue (although he will stay on our Buildings subcommittee) and we thank him for his contributions. Ian is replaced by Ash Nallawalla. Ash has been involved with Melb PC for many years, almost since its beginning, and was the driving force responsible for creating the members Internet service. In the beginning, all of our Internet services ran on just one 486 computer. Ash has also been involved with PC Update for over a decade and has been committee member on several occasions over the years.

The new committee is thus:

plus eight general committee members: Ray Beatty, Dave Botherway, Margaret Brown, Roswitha Aigner, Bill Dair, David King, Barry Martin and Ash Nallawalla. Portfolios will be assigned at our next committee meeting, Tuesday 4 December. These meetings are open to all members and you are welcome to attend and observe the committee deliberating on group matters.
 
Internet Update

There have been a few questions raised about the Group's policy regarding the commercial use of the Internet service, as the planned Web hosting will be operational very shortly. In the early days of the Internet there was no commercial operation and the service was implemented just for members' personal use. Since that time the nature of the Internet has changed dramatically and there are far more .com sites than all other types combined.

Our Internet policy is that commercial use will be allowed - subject to the usual Netiquette rules. There will be limits imposed on Web hosting to prevent any one site from generating a vast amount of traffic and limiting response for the other members. The details will be in the agreement that members will each have to "click on" before obtaining their Web site with the Group. Most ISPs have some restrictions to prevent one particular person or site saturating their e-mail or Web servers.

It should be remembered that our service is run by volunteers and does not provide full after-hours support usually associated with commercial ISPs. However, a recent ISP survey shows some interesting results: we are unable (and too modest) to publish details. Sufficient to say that the real credit is due to our Internet and iHelp support teams for their excellent work, as portrayed in the survey results.
 
Next Monthly Meeting

Date: Wednesday 5 December
Venue: Pharmacy College, Parkville

New topic: Ham & Chips. No, not from McDonalds, but from the Moorabbin District Radio Club telling us about "Ham & Chips: how to listen to radio Hams through the Internet".
 
We will also see Dorling Kindersley demonstrate their latest PC instructional products involving the use of a PC to subliminally teach Children. Maybe an opportunity for some Christmas gifts for our children, or grandchildren.
 
Did you enter the photo competition? Each month at least one member has won 12 months free Internet access based on his or her talent with the camera, but there is still one major prize to be won; the Nikon Coolpix 995. All entrants in the photo competition are eligible. Julie Kimpton will represent Maxwell Optical Industries and draw the winner from the barrel. Julie will also treat us to a brief PowerPoint presentation showing some of the entries received over the past few months.

The meeting will also have our usual Random Access session (your chance to ask the experts), the regular giveaways and raffle, often with thousand dollars worth of prizes. You can also buy your shareware, pay your membership fees, meet the office staff and some of the volunteers. I hope to see you there. 

Reprinted from the December 2001 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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