SCOUG OS/2 For You - June 1999

As mentioned at the last couple of meetings, former OS/2 Professional publisher Edwin Black has written a novel and is currently doing a tour to help promote his book. The subject of the story is the struggle for dominance of the world's computer market by a software company based in the Pacific Northwest (and headed by the richest man in the world) who is opposed first by a traditional large computer hardware/software corporation and later by a group of dedicated individuals who perceive that the ultimate goal is actually the total control of mankind. The story involves a number of interesting plot developments as we learn the true nature of this struggle which hinges on the computer solution to the Y2K problem. Along the way, there are a number of parallels from the real-life Microsoft-IBM desktop operating system "wars" that help make the story interesting to OS/2 fans.

The Southern California stop on Edwin's book tour will be the weekend of June 5 and 6 and each SCOUG member will receive an invitation to these events. On Saturday, a book signing will take place in Century City and on Sunday, Edwin will be the speaker at the NOCCC OS/2 SIG meeting at Chapman University (2:30 pm); following this, there will also be a book signing at South Coast Plaza. SCOUG members are encouraged to be at any/all of these events; specifically 5-10 volunteers are needed at each of the bookstore events to help coordinate. If you can be at either/both, please let me know by email or just show up. We would also like to have a big turnout for Edwin's speech so please try to make it to the NOCCC meeting on Sunday. If you would like more information on the book and the tour, please visit Edwin's website:

In other news, we are still on track for our annual Open House event (the budget for it was approved at the last board meeting) to take place on our usual meeting date in September. This year's event will be a little different from the previous two so stay tuned for the details.

We need several volunteers to pick up some of the monthly duties at the main meeting:

• donut purchase - someone who can order and pick up donuts each month
• coffee preparation - someone to arrive early and set up the coffee pot
• coffee cleanup - someone to clean out the coffee pot at the end of the meeting

If you are willing to handle any of these chores (or know someone else that might be) please let me know at the meeting.

Speaking of volunteers, we have an ongoing need for contributions to the newsletter, website, SIG meetings and main meetings. For example, any level of article (product review, technical discus-sion, hardware, or just tips of something you have learned how to do) is very helpful to other SCOUG members (and to the OS/2 community). One incentive for writing articles is that you can qualify for a press pass to computer events such as COMDEX if you have published a couple of articles within a six-month period prior to the event.

For our main meeting, we all need to support Mark's efforts in identifying potential presentation topics so please let him know what you are interested in hearing and, if you have specific knowledge of OS/2 vendors or have seen any material from an OS/2-related product that appears to be relevant, please pass that information on to him also.

Lastly, the CD of the month has (in its first two months) proven to be a big success and will be continued in the future; so, please let Rollin know of any suggestions you might have for material to be put onto these CDs.

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