TO/2 Newsletter - December, 1995 Welcome to the Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter! volume 1, issue 8 Return to TO/2 Homepage Introduction/ Administrivia From the Warped Mind of the Editor Retail Teamers Unite! Meeting Schedules Meeting Map News of the Month Group Announcements Including some Executive news... Latest News from Vendors Lots of good stuff this month... more Jan/96 Shareware/Freeware Information Products in Review The Post Road Mailer review... Classified Advertisements Tools, Tips and Tricks Tips for Users New and Old Vital OS/2 Tools and Utilities Fixes, Patches and CSD's OS/2 Information OS/2 BBS List OS/2 Echoes and Mailing Lists OS/2 Vendors OS/2 Books Team OS/2 Details and Legals This Month's Contributors Request for Contributors Request for Sponsors/Advertising Disclaimer/Copyrights Martin Moran Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter TO/2 Newsletter - Intro/Admin - 12/95 Introduction and Administration From the Warped Mind of the Editor Membership Information Meeting Schedules Meeting Map Return to Table of Contents From the Warped Mind of the Editor "For me, I don't like that product. And I don't use it." Does that sound familiar? I thought it might. Pardon me while I put on my Teamer had, but I'm sorry, I still have the glow on from wearing a Pink Shirt down in Las Vegas for Comdex/Fall '95. I was doing some Christmas shopping in a mall in Brampton during the last week of November, and wandered into a certain computer store whose name I won't mention. (They're Canadian owned, in upscale malls, and overpriced... but I won't mention their name.) I played out a sting - pretended I didn't know about OS/2, but "had heard it was better than Windows '95. When I asked for information about Warp, he dithered, and then showed me the magazine rack. To their credit, they had both OS/2 Professional and OS/2 Magazine on the shelves. When I pressed him for more information, and what he thought about it, I was greeted, curtly, with the above phrase. And that is something that has to change, and quickly. IBM has to get more computer retailers involved in preload agreements - we all know this. They also have to get more ISVs onside, but we ALL know that as well. But what about getting the RETAILERS onside? Yes, that's what Teamers are supposed to do, isn't it? IS IT! Why? Why doesn't IBM do this. Why must Teamers fill this role? I overheard someone say a very prophetic thing whilst I was in Las Vegas. Another Canadian Teamer, Walter Klaimchuck, felt that Team OS/2 will be successful when Team OS/2 is no longer needed. Walter called me a "Retail Teamer" - one who got introduced to the Team to help do retail demos. And the question lingers: why do Teamers have to do retail demos? Why is IBM not doing it. WalterK also told me one more telling fact: Team OS/2 is doing for IBM what Microsoft marketing is doing for MS. If there is something you would like to see in the NL, just drop me a note: Martin Moran, Editor The opinions expressed in this editorial are only those of the editor, and do not reflect any opinions at IBM or with the Toronto OS/2 User's Group Membership Information Presently, membership in TO/2 requires only that you show up at the monthly meetings. Normally, we have a crowd of roughly 70 people attend, but this swells and dips on a regular basis. Please ensure that, should you attend to the meeting, you sign the Sign-In sheets, so that we can properly account for you as a member. Presently there is no membership fee for TO/2, and the Executive is currently debating this. Until such time as a decision has been made, all TO/2 meetings and events are free of charge. For more information about Membership, please contact Kevin Quinn, Membership Co-ordinator by e-mail. Meeting Schedules All TO/2 meetings take place on the second Thursday in the month, in the Auditorium of 3600 Steeles Avenue East, Markham. Meetings begin with a half hour question and answer period with the New User SIG at 7:00 in room D109, and then presentations start at 7:30 with the group news. The main presenter appears from 7:45-8:45, and then we have a 15 minute break. A number of smaller presenters, including members of TO/2 and the Executive, will take us to conclusion at 10:00pm. The December Meeting will take place on December 14, 1995.. The January Meeting will take place on January ,1996 . Meeting Map Martin Moran Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter TO/2 Newsletter - News - 12/95 News of the Month Group Announcements Latest News From Vendors Shareware/Freeware Information Products in Review Classified Advertisements Return to Table of Contents Group Announcements The Group Announcements are rather short this month. The Executive is thinking of having a Communications SIG start up around January's meeting, and will have more info in the January Newsletter. The SIG would likely be run by Martin Moran as a start, but he would love to pass it to a member who wants to get involved more in TO/2. Anyone interested should contact Martin. The Executive is considering running an install day in the new year, hopefully in January of February. Logistics have not been worked out, and volunteers will be needed. More on this topic to come. The format of the meetings may change slightly, in order to give more time to the presenters and lose less people in the process. The New User SIG may be changed to a Q&A session in the main Aud. in the middle of the meeting, before or after the break, in order to give all attendees a better opportunity to ask their questions. As this newsletter is written late (Editor's apologies), we have the benefit of hindsight. We apologize for Lotus' cancellation at the last minute, and we are trying to re-book them. Kevin Linfield, our Vice-President, is taking over a number of the PR tasks, and is creating a flyer/pamphlet to be distributed at Comdex, ComputerFest, etc. Latest News from Vendors As usual of late, there is a lot of Vendor News. Follow the link to get up to date on the latest greatest news. Shareware and Freeware Information This month, I am using a product (included on the shareware disk for December) called HTML Wizard for OS/2 to edit the newsletter. If you've never programmed with HTML before, or you do a great volume of it and want a helping hand, check this thing out! Currently in v1.52, I had used it in past. The newer versions offer button bars, partially customizable, for all of the tag commands. And it makes setting up tables a breeze. The product is sold as shareware only for $20US, and is worth your registration dollars by FAR! Well worth the look anyway. For more information about version 1.52, please see the Vendor's News. Products in Review Once again, we have another great user review. Mr. Ray Appleby, the man who showed the Post Road Mail Reader to you in the November meeting, has also included the enclosed review for you to look at. Enjoy! Review of Post Road Mailer Classified Advertisements We have no classifieds for you this month. Anyone interested in submitting a classified should contact the editor directly. Martin Moran Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter TO/2 Newsletter - OS/2 Info - 12/95 OS/2 Information OS/2 BBS List OS/2 Echoes and Mailing Lists Vendors Books Team OS/2 Return to Table of Contents OS/2 BBS List Local BBS' for OS/2 Users: The Telemax BBS!Home of TO/2! Node 1: 416-422-4351 Node 2: 416-422-4599 IBM BBS 905-316-4255 ONE LESS CAR 416-480-0147 Detached Process 416-447-9260 ATI Technologies 905-764-9404 World's Biggest Bookstore 416-240-8056 OS/2 Echoes and Mailing Lists Echoes and Mailing lists: It became much too difficult to maintain a large list of echoes and mailing lists for the editorial staff. The list on the main home page is an excellent source of links and mailing lists, and will be maintained there and only there. We apologize if this is an inconvenience to anyone. OS/2 Vendors We a presently working on a local OS/2 Vendor list, which should be available in a future newsletter. In the meantime, you can contact House of Technology, who are still dealing directly with consumers. OS/2 Books As with the vendors, we are trying to come up with a list and brief review of the books available for OS/2, and especially Warp. Please watch this page for more info. Team OS/2 Martin Moran Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter TO/2 Newsletter - Details - 12/95 Details and Legals This Month's Contributors Request for Contributors Request for Sponsors/Advertising Disclaimer/Copyrights Return to Table of Contents This Month's Contributors Thanks very much to Ray Appleby for his excellent reviewof the Post Road Mail reader. Thanks again, as well, for demoing it during the November meeting. Thanks to Terry Hamilton for the tips, and for holding the group glued together. Thanks to the Executive for providing the info regarding the changes and additions going on at the top level. And finally, as always, thanks to Martin Moran for throwing this thing together again, late as it was. Request for Contributors The TO/2 newsletter is always willing to accept contributions, especially from its own members. This newsletter can really take off with your help, and the Executive would really appreciate any contributions. If you wish to submit something, mail it to Martin Moran, with 'Newsletter:' starting the subject line. This means anything, including product releases that you grab from the 'net to little reviews you do about a utility you find valuable. Remember, though, that the editor follows the Team OS/2 list, the OS/2 announce list, and comp.os.os2.announce. As an aside, we have already been contacted by a few members who have prepared something for submission. Way to go, guys, and keep it coming. Request for Sponsor/Advertising TO/2 is always looking for OS/2 centric companies to come and demonstrate their products. Any product demonstrated at TO/2 will have a review in the newsletter following the presentation. For more information, please contact Terry Hamilton, TO/2 President. Disclaimer/Copyrights All standard disclaimers apply. All products mentioned, with their accompanying symbols and trademarks, are the properties of their manufacturers. All trademarks are the property of the registered owners. The views of this newsletter in NO WAY reflect the views of IBM, unless otherwise stated. Any information about product releases and dates should be taken to be information released into the public domain. Any information that is provided here may have been obtained via the internet, and as such should not necessarily be taken as true and correct. This document is The Toronto OS/2 User's group and Martin Moran. No reproduction, in any form, is allowed without express written consent. The Toronto OS/2 User's Group takes no responsibility for any information located in links to other HTML pages and/or other internet locations that some may find offensive. The Toronto OS/2 User's Group takes no responsibility for the length of this disclaimer. No MicroSoft employees were harmed during the creation of this document (we'll try harder next month.) Martin Moran Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter