President's Message

We did it again! Our twin pub lishing ventures, dacs.doc and dacs.org, took the ribbons in their respective categories at the annual InterGalactic User Group Officers’ Conference on June 19.

The KISS principle (Keep it Simple, stupid) must have been the controlling factor in judging Web
pages, with dacs.org drawing runner-up for Best Graphics on a Web site. Keeping it simple has been the philosophy of minimalist Webmaster, Jeff Setaro, who has spent many hours each month making sure the DACS site runs lean and mean. In previous years, user groups’ Internet pages got top kudos for fancy frames and images that danced across the screen. Trouble was that the dancing slowed to a crawl and the underlying structure got too complex to update with regularity. The
trick is to make a site look crisp and professional without slowing it down with fancy graphics. And with the best content around, who needs a side show?

Great content and design were the operant terms for dacs.doc, too, which earned Best User Group Coverage, runner-up for Best Design and Fea-tures, and Best Overall for a mid-sized newsletter. We’ve won some of these awards before, but the nervous anticipation, the gnawed cuticles, the gastric butterflies fluttering within, and the sudden rush of exhilaration as the prizes are announced, never really disappear.

Especially gratifying are the warm congratulations from fellow conferees, combined with questions of "how’d you do it?".

Unsung heroes

Awards and praise are gratifying, but they seldom probe beyond the veneer of print and pixel media that defines the outward expression of a user group. Often missed are the unsung
heroes whose contributions may not be as visible, but are just as essential to the mission and work of the group.

Here are some of my nominations:

• Best Supporting Player. For about a decade, Charlie Bovaird has performed a crucial role in managing the financial affairs and membership relations of DACS. No fanfare, no bluster, and no baloney.
• Best Chronicler of UG Activities. As Board secretary, Larry Buoy has combined a flair for the literary with businesslike precision, to flawlessly forge the minutes of our monthly meetings.
• Best Media Relations. Marlène Gaberel hit the ground running when she assumed the role of PR director. Through letters, email and phone contacts, she has since established a solid media presence for DACS in all the region.

It is important for members to appreciate all the volunteer efforts that go into the work of DACS. Therefore, in coming months, we will try to profile in dacs.doc these and other volunteers
who have contributed so much to our success as a user group.

DACS Macs

Congratulations to the DACS Macintosh SIG! They have just become the proud users of a spanking
new iMac, on loan from longtime member, Charlie White of Bethel. We’ve been having an informal drive going to get some hardware for the SIG to use, and Charlie came through in the pinch. Special thanks also go to Jim Scheef and Ed Heere for their donations of a pair of used Macs to the Resource Center. Now ... does anyone have PageMaker or Quark for the Mac, just in case the RC PC crashes?

Ontrack offline

Just two weeks before the July General Meeting, our scheduled presenter, Ontrack Data International, derailed. At this writing, our fearless program director, Jeff Setaro, was making calls and pressing the flesh at PC Expo to find suitable replacement. If one is not found, Wally David has graciously offered to do an expanded Surfin’ Safari... but then someone else would have to review him! Rest assured that we will have another provocative, stimulating and foot- stomping event, of the kind DACS is famous for. Updates will be posted on the DACS Web page.

--Allan Ostergren
dacsprez@aol.com