Everything is pushed back a week, because the MPCUG officer corps and top brass will be at the APCUG & CES in Las Vegas Jan 4-11. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. Happy New Year, and stay tuned for another great PC Year!
If you were curious about Microsoft's new Windows Vista release, and you were kicking yourself because you missed last month's meeting where we were going to show the new operating system -- you are in luck! Last month we had to postpone the demo because of technical problems -- our presenter needed to upgrade more of his computing platform to make it work! So we will be doing this presentation this month.
Microsoft is bringing out the next version of Windows - Windows Vista. Retailers have been eagerly awaiting Windows Vista, especially as the holiday computer sales season has been approaching. But the project has been delayed again and again, and Microsoft is now projecting a January 2007 release. What are the new features of Vista? How can you get it, and can you install it on your existing equipment? Or do you have to get a whole new computer to run Vista? How will Vista make your experience better and more secure?
People have lots of questions about the new Windows Vista. Microsoft has sent us a preview kit and presentation - so come to our meeting and catch a glimpse of Vista, and get your questions answered! Roger Tesch, President of the MPCUG, will be introducing us to Microsoft's latest.
Our thanks to member Jim Gussert who stepped in and gave a demo of three interesting software utilities, all of them available for free, and all very useful. He showed us the Firefox web browser which has a lot of interesting tools available to customize your experience, and safety enhancements for web surfing. Belarc Advisor analyzes your computer system and produces a most thorough and informative report on your hardware and software. And Windirstat produces an interesting graphical view of the contents of your hard drive. As usual for our meetings, we had a lively discussion as Jim showed off the features and we worked live and in real time with these great software tools.
MPCUG's own Roger Laurel Tesch will demonstrate Alpha Five version 7 from Alpha Software, Inc. Alpha Five is an easy-to-use program for building desktop and Web database applications. Novices can create robust applications without any programming using action scripts and genies. Professional developers can also use the Xbasic programming language to add sophisticated features to their applications.
Roger will show how easy it is to use Alpha Five, whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer. With Alpha Five, you don't need prior database experience to build sophisticated applications. Use hundreds of predefined action scripts to build applications without writing a line of code. Use security features to keep data safe from unauthorized users. Use genies, which are similar to wizards, to create custom database features.
The main meeting will feature Lon Levy, a computer science teacher at Oregon high school. Lon retired from a successful career as an IT consultant, and devoted himself to helping the next generation prepare themselves for the challenges of the information age. He will show us his innovative approaches to teaching high school kids that let them advance far beyond what has been thought possible. He uses free and open source software, and samples will be available at the meeting. Come and advance your own understanding as well!
The topic will be "Google's New Web Applications" and the presenter will be MPCUG's First Vice President, Bhim Nimgade. Google is a dynamic and innovative company that is almost synonymous with web searches, and they are striving to deliver much more in the way of services over the web. Come and take a look at some of the new things that Google is making available for people to use, and share some of your experiences if you have given them a try.
The presenter will be our own President, Roger Tesch. He will be showing the features of Microsoft's Windows Defender, the new anti-spyware utility that Microsoft is distributing as a free beta version. It will be included in the new Vista operating system. Come and find out how to use Windows Defender! Microsoft has sent us some goodies to give out as well.
Our featured presenter is Scott Corley, President of Red Mercury, LLC, of Chicago, Illinois. Red Mercury is an innovative game designing house for the Windows and the Palm OS platforms. Their game design philosophy draws on influences from the worlds of music, art, design, architecture, and psychology. Scott is sure to have many fascinating things to tell us about designing a game experience that is beautiful to look at and satisfying to play.
The main presentation will feature Mr. Chandy Karnum, of Dean Health Plan. He is a claims system analyst for Dean, with a lot of expertise in business systems, IT, and the new Medicare plan. He is a dynamic speaker who likes to bring clarity to technical subjects. Mr. Karnum will be speaking on Real World Number Crunching in Excel. Mathematics is the basis of much exciting work in the fields of finance, economics, and now business and marketing. Microsoft Excel is a basic tool to bring to bear the power of mathematics. Mr. Karnum has a wide range of interests and expertise that he can draw upon to show the power of mathematics and of Excel. He got his undergraduate degree in Agriculture in Nagpur, India; and a Master's degree in Economics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is sure to have some very interesting insights to share with us.
The presenter will be Steven Schwartzer, principal of the Heartland Benefits Group. He will be reviewing the growing problem of identity theft and will educate us on ways to protect ourselves from this problem and to restore our lives if we have been hit. Mr Schwartzer will present what he considers the three basic steps to proactively confront identity theft. The Heartland Benefits Group offers all lines of employee benefits (group), individual health, life & disability insurance, and featuring identity theft & legal protection plans through Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. The company website is www.heartlandbenefits.net.
Greg Knowles, CEO of OmniPresent Systems LLC, will be our presenter. As an undergraduate engineering student at Madison, he won a $7000 prize in the competition for the Schoofs Prize for Creativity. His innovative concept and unique business model for the OmniPresent Community-Based Response Network won the prize, and his start-up venture is based on that. He will show how his company can use the latest sensor technology and the various networks linking personal computers, cellular phones, and PDA's, to protect and secure homes and businesses. A big problem in the security industry is the false alarm, which raises costs and increases irritation for neighbors and for first responders (law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical services).
OmniPresent Systems LLC can reduce the incidence of false alarms by distributing the process of verifying alarms across an online community base. Relevant information is electronically delivered, reviewed, and then respondent(s) come to a decision regarding the validity of the alarm and notify the proper authorities.
We will feature a presentation by Brad Weisbrod, Sales Manager of Applied Tech Solutions. Applied Tech Solutions provides technology services and solutions to help small to medium
sized businesses. Applied Tech very kindly provided the MPCUG with meeting space at their offices at the Madison business incubator building for several months in 2005. Since then, Applied Tech has moved to new offices a few blocks away on Paterson Street. For the presentation, Brad will talk about what Applied Tech Solutions does, including their TechCare program, and about what changes they are making as they evolve to meet new challenges.
We will be treated to "Reports from the Field", since some of our officers managed to make the trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual APCUG (Association of PC Users Groups) conference and the mammoth CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Sadly, the Las Vegas COMDEX show is no more, and CES is the biggest thing going, covering anything and everything electronic, which includes computers, of course, and all those wonderful peripherals. There should be some interesting stories from those wild and crazy guys - the MPCUG officers!