Greetings. By the time you read this Christmas will be just around the corner, and the holiday season will have begun in earnest. For those of you going away for the holiday season take care on the roads and come back safely.
As you will all be aware, TIP is now safely entrenched in Belconnen. Huge thanks must go to the TIP team and their helpers for such a rapid and (almost) painless transition. There were a few days of constant dropouts which was finally traced to one little blue cable. The offending cable was severely punished and assigned to the rubbish bin. Iain Gould spent many hours tracking this little devil down and his persistence is much appreciated.
One has to be impressed by the fact that all of the work involved in the move and in the day to day running of TIP is done by PCUG and AUUG volunteers. If we were paying commercial rates for this expertise, I doubt that we could have come as far as we have in supplying this service. Huge thanks are due to these people and all of the other volunteers in the group. The slogan of Users Helping Users' is alive and well in the group.
The Internet Project Management Committee (IPMC) is very busy on our behalf. Our contract with Access One is up for renewal in February and, like other Internet Service Providers, their rates are rising considerably. We have had an exceptional deal from them in the last year but like anyone else, business is business. The IPMC is out there checking all our options with other suppliers and will come back to the Committee with the best deal possible. However, we have to be realistic and realise that our supply charges will rise considerably and along with it, TIP charges. The upside is that we will also have more incoming lines and at least a 256K bandwidth connection to the Internet. Please be sure to read Iain Gould's article on page 36 which explains what is happening in more detail. Some of the feedback we have received from members is that they want more information from the Committee. To this end, we have set up a "Meet the Committee" afternoon on the last Saturday of each month at the Centre between 2pm and 4pm (excluding December). It was interesting to see that the first session held last month had no response. This could have been due to the fact that apart from my message in the October issue, it has not been advertised. This will be rectified in the future, and we hope to have a better turn out. Due to holidays the Centre will be closed on the last Saturday of December and January so the next 'Meet the Committee' afternoon will be held on the special date of 18 January, 1997. Remember, this is your chance to have your say in the running of the group.
Karl Auer has for the last few years been our Communications Spokesperson and has spoken on behalf of the PCUG on many issues, only recently attending a Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of Services Utilising Electronic Services (That's SSCOCSRTTSOSUES for short). His report is now on his web page. His public profile on behalf of the group has always been a credit to us all. Karl has recently been elected to the board of the newly formed Internet Society of Australia and has informed the Committee he will no longer be able to hold the Communications Spokesperson position. We are extremely sorry to lose Karl. On behalf of the Committee and the members, I wish him well in his new position.
The Bring and Buy was a huge success again last month, and many bargains were snapped up. Whoever sold Flight Simulator to Ken Livingston has a lot to answer for. Many hours have been spent trying to take off and land in one piece. Hours I may add that could have been spent doing better things... Santa was his usual jolly self, and while not so many of the pre-teen generation were in attendance it seems the bigger kids present enjoyed the lollies just as much.
October Committee Meeting
Discussion was held on earlier closing date for nominations to the Committee at the AGM. This would be to enable candidates' profiles to be included in August Sixteen Bits so the members could have more time to study the nominations prior to voting. Hugh Bambrick advised that a General Meeting would have to be called in March or April next year to ratify the change to the rules.
The Committee is to look at putting together a proposal for the Annual Employment Grants Proposal next year.
Consideration was given to giving extra access hours on TIP to the severely disabled, after much debate the Committee decided it was inappropriate as the service was already inexpensive. The Executive Committee to meet to answer questions raised at the AGM about the accounts. The Users Helping Users: Guidelines for Member Services was adopted in principle. The Treasurer advised that out of pocket expenses are reimbursed and should be accompanied by receipts or invoices. In case of a vehicle expenses a log book should be maintained and reimbursement for telephone calls should be accompanied by schedule listing details of who the calls were made to. It was agreed to extend the Fyshwick lease until the end of November to enable TIP to keep operating until the AS5200 arrived.
Treasurers report for October
PCUG
Income $28,932.53
Expenditure $51,180.32
Balance at Bank $77,454.31
Internet Project
Income $ 7,758.50
Expenditure $ 2,250.70
Balance at bank $84,196.68
In closing for this month the PCUG Committee would like to wish all the members a very happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 1997.
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