From the January 1994 Bits of Blue
Secretary s Report

MINUTES OF 1218/93 MEETING
and PERSONAL COMMENTS

By: Jim Clark

The meeting began a few minutes late at 6:10, led by our illustrious Prez, Harvey Bruneau, with a modest representation of members present and several visitors. Important user group business was scheduled for the evening, along with a presentation of an intriguing software program.

Elections: The floor was opened to any additional nominations for the five elected positions on the Tampa PC Users Group Board of Directors. None were offered, the nominations were closed, and preparations for the election began. A motion was made, seconded and approved by the majority present that those persons nominated for positions for which there was no opposition be elected in block to fill those positions. There were three nominees for the position of Vice President: Michaline Ostrowski, Don Patzsch, and Al Poole. Two votes were taken, with the first narrowing the field to two nominees since the first vote did not produce a clear winner. Those elected to serve through December 1994 are as follows:

50/50: A decision was taken by the membership during the November meeting to take a vote at this meeting on a motion to eliminate the split of money collected for the door prize drawings, with the user group instead retaining all of the funds to help offset our need for funds to finance our relocation and other needs. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried by a large majority: At this meeting and all future meetings, all funds collected for the door prize drawings will be retained by the user group.

New Meeting Location: Harvey announced that beginning with the February 1994 meeting our meetings would be held at the Ybor City campus of the HCC. A map was included in the last newsletter. While equipment arrangements had not yet been completed for that site, the facilities are excellent and the normal meeting agenda would obtain, including a vendor presentation.

Software Reviews: Harvey announced that he and Marylee had obtained a number of software programs at Comdex for review by our group. A listing of the programs available will be posted on the BBS and in the next newsletter. Please contact Marylee Bruneau about any of the programs you would like to review.

Adobe Acrobat Explained: Harvey informed the membership of a BOD decision to acquire a license for Adobe Acrobat readers for all group members. Adobe Acrobat allows converting the output of most major programs into a common format, retaining all formatting characteristics of the original document, allowing all computers with a reader to display and printout, if desired, any document as it was originally created, whether or not the viewing computer has any of the software tools of the creating computer. Not only will this be a considerable convenience to our members and group administration, but also it is expected to lead to considerable savings in distribution of the newsletter.

Meet Your BBS: A number of our group took advantage of an offer by our SYSOP, Kevan Sheridan, to meet the Bits Of Blue BBS at the site of the BBS computer. Kevan explained a bit about the BBS and answered all questions with demonstrations where appropriate. It was a very interesting and informative session for all participants. Kevan received enough feedback from those participants to know the evening was worthwhile, and accordingly has scheduled another Meet Your BBS Night, the third Wednesday in January. It may well become a regularly scheduled event. Come to the meetings and/or watch the BBS for more current info on this.

Caution In Buying CDs: Low cost CD’s are flooding the market, many of which are not worth their few $$ price. Harvey advises that you look before you leap when purchasing CDs; even a cheap CD is a waste if it is not useful.

Word 6.0 Bugs: A number of bugs have shown up in the recently released Word for Windows 6.0. Microsoft has announced there will be a release in February to correct these problems.

28.8 Modems: Harvey informed us that these modems which use parallel ports are now available from at least two vendors. Cost is in the range of what the 14.4 used to cost.

Sound Technology: Summarizing his readings from articles on the subject, Harvey reported that sound technology was now on the fast track and we could expect in the not too distant future that a vocal interface between user and computer would be a lot more practical.

PRESENTATION askSam for Windows, Ver. 1.0

Philip Schnyder, President of askSam Systems, favored us with his presentation of their software program, askSam for Windows. We have been hearing a good bit about that program for awhile now and I, at least, have really not known what the program is about, only glowing words that it is a great program. BUT WHAT IS IT?? Philip was here to answer that question. A very simplified answer is it is a very powerful, super-flexible, very user-friendly information management/database program. I now understand why it was so much of a mystery for me, because even after having seen a demo of the program I am having considerable difficulty coming up with description for you. What I can tell you for sure is that it is a great program.

Designed with a view of doctors, lawyers and others who deal with random information which they need to retain and be able to quickly recall when needed, askSam is a free form information management system. While it can be used pretty much as a conventional database to retain and recall structured data, its greatest value lies in its ability to store and recall information in unstructured form; that is, input information of just about any size and shape randomly into the same database and then be able to quickly recall that information in usable form, using a single or many criteria, and in a wide variety of formats and views. How fast can it retrieve? Philip says they have tested: With a 486/3 3 using DOS 5 and Windows 3.1, it took 15 seconds to search a 5.2 Mb data base. (I am not sure that this is useful information since timing is affected by so many variables, including criteria, format, available memory, etc.) In any case, the demo I saw was fast.

I was too intrigued with the program to get many notes. I did note the following: The limit on the number of criteria one can use in searches is unknown at present, but is well in excess of that one is likely to ever need; each record can be up to 300 pages (yes, three hundred pages) long; supports OLE of text and graphics; supports direct imports of ASCII, RTF, Word Perfect and dBase/FoxPro formats; exports in ASCII, RTF and CDV. Features not yet a part of the program, but which are in the works, include a spell checker and the ability to conduct multiple data base searches. Philip recommends a 386 machine with 4 Mb of RAM to run the program, though it will function with lesser capability. The program requires 2 Mb of hard disk space. askSam lists for $395, with a street price somewhat less than that. Those present at the meeting were given the opportunity to purchase the DOS or Windows version at a great savings for $125. Phil explained that the DOS and Windows versions are essentially the same, the differences in summary being that the Windows version is somewhat easier to use, while the DOS version has a few more options. Phil, we THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your visit, for a great presentation of a super program, and for the copies of askSam you donated for our door prizes. You have a real winner in askSam. We look forward to your next visit in our new quarters.

Thanks to the generosity of askSam Systems, which donated two copies of askSam, and to Brainchild Computer, who donated a copy of MS Word Assistant, there were some very nice door prizes. Those among us to have the good fortune to win are:

The meeting adjourned at about 9:00 PM. u