SCOUG OS/2 For You - December 1998

It's hard to believe that the end of the year is almost here; I guess it must be true that time flies when you're having fun. After a busy October, it was nice to have a relatively quiet November and current plans are to not have the Internet SIG actually meet in December.

As reported last month, the board is investigating alternate sites for both the SIGs and the help-desk workshop. The November board meeting, in fact, will be held at one prospective site: the Heritage Christian High School in Fullerton where board member Sheridan George teaches. If the facilities there meet with the strict standards of the board - i.e., it is big enough and fits our budget (with big enough being optional) - we might schedule SIG meetings there starting in January.

Also as reported last month, we will be trying alternate approaches to the monthly Internet SIG meeting and the help desk. Dave Watson has procured a dedicated channel (#scoug) on the Webbnet IRC server and scheduled weekly chats. Tentatively we are going to try these chats each Tuesday evening from 7 - 8 pm, starting December 8. Please check the SCOUG web site and Dave's Internet SIG web site for the latest details, including where to get IRC client software for OS/2. Your participation in these chats is what will make them successful, so please give it a try.

As for the help desk, a new format will soon be implemented in addition to the monthly workshops (which we hope to resume in January). Webmaster Rollin White has created a new online email list that can be utilized by anyone (with Internet access) to post questions, problems and even tips at any time. For those that have the knowledge or expertise, they can subscribe to the list. By so doing, they will automatically receive email for all of the posted questions and can then respond appropriately. The new list will be available soon (check your SCOUG web site for details) and we hope that it will be a good source of information and help to members (and non-members). Any feedback on the use or extension of this facility is greatly appreciated.

If you require more interactive assistance, check out our IRC version of the help desk on Monday night, December 21st. If you join this chat, you can ask questions about OS/2 related problems and troubleshooting or help others by answering their questions.

No Need to Shop 'til You Drop

For those of you that have not yet completed your Christmas shopping (I know that's a small minority), don't forget to pick up those last minute gifts at the December meeting: we still have t-shirts ($10) and sweatshirts ($20 and going fast), and those ever popular diskettes of the month ($2) and Open House CDs (also $2) make good stocking stuffers. Last, but certainly not least, SCOUG memberships ($28) are always a popular and thoughtful gift for the discriminating computer users in your family.

And, based on a recent poll, here is the wish list of the top ten OS/2 gifts for 1998:

• (10) A fixpak that remains current for more than 1 week
• (9) A current Lotus Notes OS/2 Client
• (8) A coherent OS/2 marketing strategy from IBM
• (7) CUSeeMe/2 driver that handles audio
• (6) A real OS/2 browser
• (5) True USB support
• (4) Any OS/2 marketing strategy from IBM
• (3) OS/2 Warp version 5.0
• (2) An injunction against Microsoft requiring them to package OS/2 along with Windows to give their customers a fair choice
• (1) OS/2 luggage tags

Ho! Ho! Ho!

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