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

Proposed Christmas Day Party 

We think there could be many single people of all ages who might enjoy some friendly atmosphere and mix with those they know and maybe those they don't yet know, to share a few hours together on Christmas day. Melb PC has always been a community based group and this is another way we can bring people together. We know that for many single members who have family overseas, Christmas Day can be lonely.

We don't plan a restaurant-style 4-course meal, but would provide a buffet-style meal and drinks with some festive trimmings. You could possibly bring a small plate, biscuits and cheese, your favourite dip and perhaps some drinks; some will be provided. This will most likely be held at the group's premises in South Melbourne.

Melbourne PC User Group will subsidise the event as a service to its members but there will be a small fee involved. 

Let us know of your interest by e-mail to the Office office@melbpc.org.au and please put the word "Xmas" in the subject line; also indicate if you would be willing to assist with organising. We need at least two members who will be willing to assist before this event can happen. 

Survey Results 

Thank you for the excellent response to the latest member survey and for all your comments. We have received about 1,700 responses via the Web site and about 100 more were posted in. Full results will be published in a future issue of PC Update. 

Some clear results from the survey on what PC Update articles you would like to see are:

  • A significant majority of members would like to see articles on new products in this magazine, which is not surprising for a computer group. This was the most requested section.
  • More on the home office side of computing. This was the second most popular request. As many are home users, this was a bit of a surprise.
  • Antivirus requests came third.
  • More news about Melbourne PC User Group was a close fourth.
  • Next were requests for e-mail articles and then graphics. By this stage there was a high percentage of replies with "No Opinion" ticked, which we know that many people used to indicate a preference of "about the same", or "no change".

The most read sections in PC Update are: President's Comments (this column), the Editorial and Random Access.

Volunteers Required

We need a few volunteers to enter the 100 or so paper entries, not only to increase the sample size but to see if this sample has different priorities. If several members volunteer then it will mean only a couple of dozen entries to be keyed in from home over several days. Please e-mail to office@melbpc.org.au if you can help.

New Training Course 

E-mail and News: As there is much interest in e-mail, this new 3-hour course will start at 10.00 am on Thursday 10 October. The course is designed specifically to show new members the world of e-mail and newsgroups. Further details can be obtained from the office or the training pages on the Web.

Monthly Meeting

This month's meeting will be at the Pharmacy College in Parkville on Wednesday 2 October starting at 6.00 pm.

Sony Clie. PDAs are the big new direction in computing and so far Palm has had all the running. But, giant Sony is the big contender.

TrialBlazer: Have you ever loaded a trial program which then messes up your configuration and could even crash your hard disk? Well this program is your insurance against disaster.

Making music with your computer. Your computer has the capability of being a sophisticated musical instrument. And these days there are the accessories and the software to make the jump simply and inexpensively.

Have you been to a monthly meeting yet? You don't know what you're missing. There's information and fun, entertainment and many prizes plus opportunities to socialise and meet new friends. The meeting will also have our Random Access session (your chance to ask the experts) Plus Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! Bring your membership card so that you will be eligible for raffle prizes. It's a great night. Don't miss it!

Reprinted from the October 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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