Melb PC Personality Profile

Colin Lovitt, recently ascended to the Presidency, following Charles Wright's resignation. I feel he is the most appropriate candidate for this month's column.

Colin Leslie Lovitt, known affectionately on the BBS as Claude Balls (among other things), is one of the new dynamic forces of Melb PC.

Having joined Melb PC in March 1990, he used to go to the occasional monthly meeting, like many, but avidly read PC Update (which he reread 12-18 months later). In December 1992, having taken a book on modemming on holiday to Fiji with him, he became very interested. He purchased his first modem in early 1993 then "fell in love with communications".

Starting messaging, he went to the Communications SIG. He was invited to a planning meeting where he joined various sub-committees, including BBS and Social, and was asked to convene the Rules sub-committee. Through these he got to know other active members and took over the files BBS, which he reconfigured after the message board crash mid-93.

He became the Files Board Co-Sysop until the big crash last December, after which he coordinated the recovery and re-establishment of the files on the combined BBS. During this period he upgraded to a 14,400 bps modem.

Meanwhile, Charles had asked him to stand as Vice-President at the 93 Annual elections, where he was elected. Jokingly (as is his wont), he remarked to Charles, "This puts me a heartbeat away from the Presidency" - fortunately, Charles' resignation was a matter of choice.

I was welcomed into a real family atmosphere, when I visited the Lovitt's South Melbourne home, which they bought in 1975. In the superbly renovated, two-storey terrace house, with a detached studio out the back for the boys, Colin's wall of wine, along with the baby grand piano, dominate the front room. The kitchen where he creates gourmet delights, would be the envy of any cook. Upstairs, the computer precinct resides in a casual lounge area, making it part of the family.

He runs a 486 DX with 8 MB RAM and 345 MB hard disk. His two sons inherited his original Toshiba laptop and 386 DX.

Margaret, his childhood sweetheart, to whom he's been married since 1972, is warm and supportive, with her own hobbies and interests. She owned a clothing business for several years where, Colin proudly interrupted, "she could turn a drawing into a dress". Maintaining that interest, Margaret also enjoys flowers, gardening and other areas of creativity. She is not computer oriented, so I asked her how she felt about Colin's involvement. Her response, "It's fine as long as he enjoys it and it doesn't involve me!"

All the family are busy with their own interests. The two sons, Marcus (18) and Zane (16), both have interests in music, theatre and the Arts. Marcus, in his first year of a B.A. at Swinburne University, initiated a drama club there. Happy to be part of the interview, I asked him how he gets along with his dad. "It's a long, hard struggle, but I cope," was the tongue-in-cheek reply. Zane, on the other hand, politely spent a few minutes with me then dashed off to his friends. He's still at St. Michael's Grammar School, in St. Kilda. I did manage to ascertain that he was looking forward to an imminent three-week trip to Italy.

Colin, despite his assertively humorous approach to life, is a very disciplined thinker. Born and raised in Melbourne, he attended Northcote and Melbourne High Schools before studying Arts and Law at Melbourne University. Keenly involved in theatrical activities throughout university, his mischievous love of satire had him on the brink of admonishment throughout his undergraduate years.

He practised as a solicitor for 18 months, went to the bar in 1970 and took silk in 1988. Specializing in Criminal Law, he has appeared in about 100 murder trials. Under DesqView using a text viewer, WordPerfect and ISYS, he used his desktop computer in the court room to run a criminal case lasting from June 92 to May 93. Rather than carrying volumes of paper, he was able to take home a floppy disc of the daily transcripts, which ultimately reached 40,000 pages.

Founder of the Victorian Criminal Bar Association (1978), he has served on the executive for a total of 14 years, twice as Chairman. He drew up the first Victorian scale of fees for counsel appearing in criminal matters, and raised the participation rate to include 400 of the 1300 practising Barristers. Currently, as Membership Secretary, he organises social functions to keep the Association together.

Anyone reading our BBS messages knows that Colin is a Carlton supporter, however they may not realise that he has been Director of the Carlton Social Club for the past 8 years and is Vice-President of the Carlton Cricket Club. He is also on the Board of the Save the Children Fund.

Colin has a love of music, especially opera, and will burst into song with little, if any, prompting (fortunately he has a good singing voice). He is sometimes inclined to quote passages of Gilbert and Sullivan in his BBS messages. He also loves to cook and play golf. His wine collection is legendary and contributes to his enjoyment of BYO restaurants.

Colin's approach to computers is methodical, arising from his discipline in maths (which he taught in his final year of Law). At the outset, he determined to learn what made a computer tick in order to take full advantage of it. He taught himself to type, read up on how computers worked, then set about learning DOS. He worked his way through several texts on DOS 4 and, when it arrived, became much more enthusiastic about DOS 5. In the meantime, he attended CAE courses on dBase and word processing and then considered he was ready to start using applications. He believes that learning about "How it works" is the key to getting the most out of computing.

Colin will present the committee with some initiatives for change. He would like to see the office procedures more defined and streamlined to maximise service, yet reminds members and office bearers that the office has limitations. Since we are entering a period of growth, he would like also to start marketing Melb PC better, using the membership base more effectively, especially in public relations and advertising.

Colin's dynamics, a balance of intellect and common sense, of knowledge and open-mindedness, of serious endeavour and humour (including a touch of the ridiculous), combined with his ability to apply himself to a task until its completion, all make him a very valuable driving force in Melb PC. We thank Colin Lovitt for his contribution and commitment and look forward to the coming year, with him at the helm.

Reprinted from the May 1994 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia