President's Message

February 2008 (v1.11)
Rob Limbaugh - President

What Happens in Vegas
As some of you know, I had an opportunity this year to attend the APCUG 2008 Annual Convention as well as a few days of CES 2008 (Consumer Electronic Show).

The APCUG 2008 Annual Convention was a spectacular opportunity to rub elbows and to speak with the leaders of other PC user groups from around the world. There was also time to speak with vendor representatives. I was surprised to see several familiar faces! There were three-and-half days of workshops, presentations, and keynotes. We were treated to industry speakers from Pinnacle, AMD, Corel, and Microsoft. Dwight Silverman, author and columnist for the Houston Chronicle TechBlog, was on hand to show how to run Windows on a Mac and share his thoughts on where technology is heading next.

ACPUG Newsletter AwardBy far, the best part of the convention was having the honor of representing DACS when it was announced that we tied for Second Place in the APCUG 2007 Newsletter Contest in the Medium Group division! Congratulations to our Newsletter editing team—Patrick Libert, Allan Ostergren, and Marc Cohen, and to all our contributors! Great job everyone!

Sleight of Hand
The last of the APCUG events was on Sunday around noon, which gave me a few hours to relax before my next, 'order of business'. The show I chose to see that evening was "Penn & Teller Live at the Rio." I meandered my way there to catch some of the sights on the Vegas strip. When I got to the Rio, my VIP "&" tickets assured me a seat in the front row center. The show was AWESOME! If you ever have a chance to see Penn & Teller, then make sure you do so. It's not just a 'magic' show—it's thought provoking entertainment.

Mike Jones and Penn Jillette played jazz for about 45 minutes while patrons entered the theater—Mr. Jones on piano, Penn on bass. Penn & Teller performed "Cups and Balls”, "Shadows", "Magic Bullet", "Needles", and Penn's signature glass booze bottle juggling, just to name a few of their routines. Their showmanship and charisma stand out the entire time. Penn is a much taller individual than I thought, and Teller certainly is a good conversationalist. Both men waited until all of their patrons had a chance to meet them before they left the lobby of the theater at the end of the show.

GPS wouldn't help
Next up was CES 2008. Had I known I was going to have the opportunity to attend CES after the APCUG convention, I would have attended Bill Gates 'final' CES Keynote speech. Thanks to the magic of computers and the Internet, I (and you) can still see it at http://www.microsoft.com/ces/.

Now, before attending CES, the largest "industry event" I had visited was Interop 2007. Before that, various computer shows in the midwest. My idea of scale was dictated by these experiences. With my trek around the Vegas Strip on Sunday and concluding 'walking Vegas' was child's play compared to walking around Manhattan. I knew CES was to use space in the Hilton, the Las Vegas Convention Center, The Venetian, and the Sands. Judging by the size of the Venetian and walking past many more than five or six hotels on my way to the Rio, I figured CES would be about five to ten times bigger than Interop.

Let me just say they handed out fold-out-glove-boxed-sized maps of EACH floor area. 1.85 million square feet is big. It's huge. There was a body invariably occupying every few square feet of it! From the escalators, people moving about looked like dots of a pointillism painting.

Some announcements
First, let's all give a warm welcome to Drew Kwashnak for taking on the role of Linux SIG Leader! Drew has been very instrumental for quite some time now. If you've been looking to learn more about Linux and have been intimidated by other books and resources, then look no further than Drew. His continued patience and knowledge have proven he's certainly on his way to being a Zen master of Linux! The Linux SIG will continue to meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the DACS Resource Center. Check the website for additional information.

We have upcoming elections for DACS Officers. The elections will be at the March 10, 2008, Board of Directors Meeting. The positions include President, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, VP of Public Relations, and VP of Programs. Officers hold their position for a term of one year beginning April 1. Candidates should be willing to carry out duties defined in the Bylaws and as determined by direction of the Board. Contact any Board Member to find out how you can be a part of DACS leadership.

A Quick Reminder
Our 2008 General Meeting Schedule is changed for the first six months of 2008. Our General Meetings will be held on the FIRST MONDAY of January through June 2008. The 'FIRST TUESDAY' schedule will resume July 2008.

In closing…
We have a great meeting scheduled for February that you won't want to miss! Dave Marra is an energetic speaker and is really a 'must see'. Increasingly people are blending 'Windows' and 'Macs' on home and work networks. This will be great insight for people who have been contemplating 'going Mac' or upgrading their existing Mac. Bring a friend or neighbor!

- Rob

ROB LIMBAUGH
relimbaugh@dacs.org



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