New Column
This month we have the first edition of a new column by Tim Feldman, president of our Davis chapter and a long-time consultant and programmer.

If you've read Tim's reports from Davis ("The Davis Cycle"), you know he is very knowledgeable about software, hardware, and the computer scene in general.

Add to that a naturally fluid and graceful writing style (How does he make it look so easy?) and you've got what I think will be a consistently entertaining column that provides useful information and insights.

Tim's first half-dozen columns will deal with Linux. He's setting up a Linux machine to see if he can run all his Windows programs on it, and if it's difficult to use.

I like that topic because I think many of us would like to have an alternative to Windows, so we didn't feel trapped by Microsoft. We might well choose to stay with Windows, but having an option helps keep everybody honest and working hard to make a better product. If Tim finds it's an easy switch, I wouldn't be surprised to see some members convert to Linux.

While I'm on this topic, I'd love to find someone to write a regular Linux column for Sacra Blue. We are, after all, a PC users group, not a Windows Only group. We really should explore all the possibilities.

"New" Writer
Beginning with this issue, we have a "new" writer handling our meeting reports. I put that in quotes because this new writer is none other than Brian Smither, our Webmaster, Product Review Editor, and now Meeting Reporter.

We've been trying to find a way to eliminate the need for transcripts of the meetings in writing the meeting articles. The transcripts have been fairly expensive, running in the area of $200 to $400 a month.

We've been using transcripts for a number of years, and Gordon Taylor, our Meeting Reporter, works from them. But we used to have a volunteer who prepared them. She finally got tired of it, and we started paying an outside service for the transcriptions.

Gordon Taylor has finally had enough of doing the meeting reports, and because the officers don't feel right about spending that kind of money on transcriptions, we've been looking for someone who could write the meeting report from the tapes we make, rather than requiring a written record.

Brian Smither tried it out this month with the report on Windows XP, and decided to take on the job. Not only that, he volunteered to take over from me the task of writing up the Business Report each month. Thanks to Brian, and many thanks to Gordon Taylor, who has worked long and hard with little recognition.

Web Site Changes
The Steering Committee has been working on a plan to put parts of the SPCUG Web site under a password, so that only members would be able to access it. If you've been a member for a while, you might remember we had a password protecting the Mentor List at one time.

Some members felt that was an intrusion, and preferred that we remove the password. Eventually we did, and the Mentor List—and indeed the entire Web site—has been available to everyone.

That decision was made when the group was riding high, with 3,000 members. Now that our membership has decreased, it's important that we ensure that those who benefit from the work we do in the user group pay for their share of the cost.

We on the Steering Committee feel that some benefits must be limited to members if we are to expect people to pay dues. In fact, some of us have had conversations with members who are concerned that they are paying for services that other people are taking for free.

We're hoping our implementation of the passwords will work better than it did the first time we tried it, and that no one will be inconvenienced. If you've got expertise in this area, you may be able to help us with that goal.

And even if you don't have expertise, please be aware that we're making this change, ultimately, for your benefit.

Members Listserv
I suspect a lot of our members don't know we operate two listservers, one for officers and one for members. You can join the members listserver by sending an e-mail to members@sacpcug.org and asking to be added to the list.

There's no automatic system doing this, so you don't have to use a magic phrase to join. Just ask. You can use the list to ask for help with a computer problem, to carry on discussions with other members, or for any of the usual uses of a mailing list.

There's very little traffic at present, so you won't be inundated with messages, and you're likely to find it rewarding to be involved.

Volunteer Needs
I mentioned before, I believe, that we need typists willing to make copies of articles from other user groups' newsletters. We've gotten one or two volunteers, but we can still use more. This is a fairly easy thing to do, and won't take a great deal of your time—if you're a passable typist.

We also always need people who would like to write. We can come up with plenty of ideas for articles and columns, but we can't write them all.

And of course we'd also welcome writers who have their own ideas. If you're interested, talk to me or to Ken Hopkins, my co-editor.