As I write this on 1 October we have a lot of activity happening relating to offices relocation, and this being the November issue carrying AGM details, PC Update is a little earlier than usual - some of the details below may change slightly.

Office Relocation
 
Work on our new offices at Chadstone is still on track for mid-October completion, and relocation of City based activities from Dorcas Street is still planned for the end of October. Keep a watch on the Internet Message-of-the-Day or broadcast e-mails for any last minute announcements.

For members who use other ISPs and have not yet registered that address with us, we again invite you to record your details simply by sending an e-mail with the subject SUBSCRIBE to mailouts@melbpc.org.au.

Interest Group Changes

Coincident with the move to Chadstone, the conveners of the Windows (Ross Alcock), Quicken (Viv Martin), Programming (Ross Hall) and Daytime (Graeme Minto) groups have decided to retire. These members have provided an extremely valuable service to the group over many years and on your behalf I thank them very much for their efforts.

For the above groups to continue they urgently need new conveners. The future venue for these groups is still to be decided - and certainly with Daytime, we would be seeking to maintain it as a city-based unit. Any member who would be interested in helping to keep one of those groups functioning, please contact the current convener or the Groups Coordinator, Bill Dair, Phone: (03)9802 4242 or e-mail groups@melbpc.org.au.

Of the three larger groups heading to Chadstone, Video Production (moving from Balwyn) expects to have its November meeting in Chadstone, the Retired and Interested Persons group is planning to use Chadstone commencing with the January meeting and East, the February meeting.

Note: At this stage, the starting times and day of the month for Interest Groups are unchanged. However, with extra flexibility at Chadstone we may be able to resolve some of the clashes that exist today for some attendees.

Internet Relocation

Apart from the Chadstone move, there is a separate but prerequisite activity involving the move of our Internet facilities to Burnley within the AAPT Co-location complex. This will give us a more robust system than we have at Dorcas Street, and at a lower cost as reflected in the lowered Internet access fee from 1 July, and we are hoping to make this move as smooth as possible by retaining the existing dial-up numbers and IP addresses, but have already run into some possible snags.
 
It is likely that the existing number 9934 9400 of only 30 lines will NOT be transferred. Members currently using this number should try and change to one of the other two numbers, 8626 5000 or 9697 4000. As with the office relocation, final dates and methods are not yet confirmed, and the Message of the Day and e-mail alerts will be used to keep you posted.
 
Additional Volunteers

Last month I made a request for additional volunteers (Users helping Users) to add to our working teams, and although the magazine has been out only a few days, the response has been pleasing. Thanks to those who responded; the door is always open for more volunteers to spread the load. E-mail me at president@melbpc.org.au

November Monthly Meeting

November is also election time, but with only the 12 existing people applying for the 12 vacant positions there is no need for an election. Instead, we will have the same team in place to continue the relocation and re-launch projects currently underway. I thank them all for once again volunteering their services for another year of time-demanding contributions to the Group.
 
The Annual General Meeting is held during the November monthly meeting each year, with the AGM beginning at 7.30 pm and usually taking about 30 minutes. It will be proceeded by the regular Q&A session, and will be followed by a Special General Meeting as announced in October magazine to consider an Honorary Life Membership for Tom Coleman. With the AGM/SGM matters concluded, we will revert to the monthly meeting. The major topics this month are Adobe Video Collections and VoIP Internet Telephony.
 
Remember the venue: University of Melbourne Private, 442 Auburn Road, having plenty of parking under the buildings (enter via rear entrance off Robinson Rd). Note: Being in the suburbs, the starting time is 7.00 pm sharp, all finishing by 9.45 pm, followed by the WAFFLE session for the night owls.

Reprinted from the November 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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