The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Gary Taig editor@melbpc.org.au |
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You always have one of those months when you can well do without them, don't you? This magazine is the product of near chaos, but I hope the end result doesn't appear quite that way. I hope you find it full of the usual top quality content and that you learn heaps. In a moment I'll tell you about the PC Update IEEE Specification. It's real, believe me.
First, let's get some housekeeping and apologies out of the way. PC Update went to press from two locations this month, different parts at different times and this completely messed up the well tuned modification-and-minor-update-system that has been running here and improving for years. This month some minor SIG changes did get through, some did not.
Rippers Gone Missing? No? Yes!
In addition to a couple of relatively simple name changes that will have to appear next month, there is one important item to highlight. At Easter, to avoid a clash on the 2nd Friday, the "rippers" hardware subgroup will meet on the day before Good Friday. This is the day before the second Friday. Now for the ugly news that I've discovered, just this instant - after most of PC Update has already long gone to the printer and passed
through prepress. The main rippers entry on page 8 has disappeared completely; I can only guess as to how, but clearly it's not there. Of course this won't cause people to stay home, or join another SIG will it.. Won't it just give everyone something extra to talk about at the next meeting. I hope so.
Note: (this is to make it really stand out - so that there is no mistake) The Retired and Interested Persons Hardware Subgroup will meet on Thursday, 13 April at Chadstone. The Main meeting will be held on Friday 28 April at Chadstone - on the fourth Friday as usual. Rippers lives on! And next month it will be back where it belongs.
Young Members
You will see an article elsewhere from one of our young members, Melissa Dunk. Melissa has been a member for some time and clearly she has more than a casual interest in computing. The interesting aspect of her story is that it highlights our single most important issue - the problem of declining membership caused by a lack of young people coming up through the ranks. There was a day when I was exactly the same age as the average age of Melb PC members - I remember it clearly; now I'm a year younger. What does that say?
I'm not growing younger - not by a long shot. It's clear the membership is rapidly increasing in average age and there is no doubt where it will end up if the decline isn't halted. We can only hope that our elected management committee is desperately searching for ways for the group to stay young, stay alive, vibrant.
PC Update IEEE Spec
The IEEE Specification is what I tell all prospective authors; it dictates that articles submitted for publication must be informative, Educational, Enlightening or Entertaining, or all of the above. See how that applies to the offering this month. I think, no I'm sure you'll find Calvin Jones' article enlightening. If you've never thought of carrying all your computing needs in your hip pocket, become enlightened. I reckon it's magic!
Since I took over PC Update in 1999 this formula has been applied to most material submitted and frankly I believe it works. Any letters to the Editor on that subject?
Reprinted from the March 2006 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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