VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org
[Newsletter Index]
[Previous Page] [Next Page]
[Feature Index]
|
VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org |
July 2003
[Newsletter Index]
|
An editorial view from Mark Dodel. President, Warpstock, Inc.
Warpstock 2003 is less then 4 months away, and it appears that this year Warpstock will be getting back to its roots as an OS/2 educational event by and for the users of OS/2 (and now its latest offspring eComStation). This years convention is being put on by the BayWarp team local to the San Francisco, California area where its being held. The prices they have negotiated are far are more affordable then what was the case last year in Austin, Texas.
The event is being held at the San Francisco Airport DoubleTree hotel, which of course is conveniently located near the San Francisco airport. There is a free shuttle to and from San Francisco International Airport 24 Hours a Day. The team managed to negotiate a rate of only $85 per night for a single or double king room. Thanks to an unfortunately continuing weak economy, these are some of the best hotel rates in years for this area of the country. Registration for Warpstock itself is currently $99 for the entire weekend.
Thus far the early scheduled presentations include a session on what's new/coming for OS/2, Wireless networking with OS/2, Tales from the Open Source Advocacy Front and a demonstration of DFSee. The Warpstock team wants people to participate in shaping of the event. Do you have an idea for a presentation? Then send it to robert-kuropkatDESPAM@attbi.com. Come see for yourself what will be new for OS/2 and Serenity's eComStation.
So far we don't have a Saturday Night Social event finalized but several ideas are still being investigated and a decision should be made soon. While in San Francisco, be sure to take advantage of the low hotel rate and stay a few extra days. The $85 Warpstock hotel room rate is valid for up to three days prior and 3 days after the event. So you can have time to visit Fisherman's Wharf, see the Golden Gate bridge, ride a cable car, take a cruise aound the harbor. Have kids? Check out the Exploratorium where you will find over 650 hands-on science, art, and human perception exhibits including the Tactile Dome, where you have to climb, crawl, slide, and fall to get to the end, and don't be surprised at textures and objects you will meet along the way.
What kind of weather should you expect in San Francisco during Warpstock? Locals say that October has the best weather the Bay Area has to offer. The daily high should be 68 - 72 degrees F, light wind and sunny to partly cloudy. There should be 50-100 mile visibility, with very little air pollution. Nights will be 45 - 50 degrees F with no wind, and no rain. So a sweater or lite jacket is all you should need on this trip. This is one of the few Warpstocks where I may actually get out of the hotel for something other then the Social. :-)
Finally, every year we approach Warpstock as if it is going to be the last because we honestly don't know if the interest will be there for yet another year. And every year we are pleasantly surprised to find the demand is still there. OS/2 users want to meet and converse with others who enjoy our platform of choice, and its great to see people in person you only know from email and other online venues. But this schedule puts a burden on the organizers and potential attendees who want all the details as far in advance as possible.
This year we are trying a different tact. We've managed to put on 6 Warpstock events, and with the fantastic job the Baywarp group is doing with this years event, the board would like to get started with looking at the future. We want to be able to announce the location of Warpstock 2004 in San Francisco. So if you are in North America, here is where you can get involved if you want to see an OS/2 event in your area. If you have a local user group or just a few OS/2 using friends, why not consider putting together a bid for 2004. Check out the Warpstock bid page for more information on making a bid proposal.
VOICE Newsletter Update: We'd like to welcome Marckus Kraft as our new associate editor. Marckus will be part of the editorial board which makes policy for the newsletter as well as working on the submission guidelines issues for the newsletter.
Our Newsletter translation team is still in need of backup. To be able to help you don't have to be a very good translator or HTML programmer. If you have profound knowledge of English or German spelling and grammar, you can also help with editing the articles. Some hints on translation activities are also available in the FAQ. If you can help please contact christian.henneckeDESPAM@os2voice.org
Please note our new Disclaimer page regarding warranty and copyrights, and the respective terms for submitted articles in our Guidelines for submissions to the VOICE Newsletter.
We are always interested in your thoughts and views on subjects related to OS/2, and would like to see opinion/editorial pieces as well as hardware/software reviews and HowTo articles. If you have an idea for an article, why not write one. It's one of the best ways, short of programming native OS/2 applications, that you can help the OS/2 Community. And anyone can do it. If you have a few hours to spare a month, we could really use the help of an additional editor to write editorials and assist in running the Newsletter. Few of our writers are professionals. They are just OS/2 users trying to help other OS/2 users. Please send me your ideas or better yet a draft of an article to editorDESPAM@os2voice.org. Please note our guidelines for submissions to the VOICE Newsletter. There you will find suggestions for topics, hints on content, structure and formatting, as well as the legal stuff.
VOICE Online Update: This month the general member meetings are scheduled on SaturdaysJuly 5 and 19 at 3PM EDT (19:00 GMT). Please note the change in time! Everyone interested in OS/2 or eComStation is invited to attend either or both of these sessions in #VOICE on the Webbnet IRC network. For more information on attending online VOICE IRC meetings please see the VOICE Meeting Information page - http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html.
If you have an idea for a Speakup event, please submit it to liaisonDESPAM@os2voice.org, and we will try to schedule something. As always, please be sure to check out the updated VOICE Future events Calendar in this newsletter or on the VOICE website at http://www.os2voice.org/calendar.html for more details on future VOICE events.
This month we start up with a First Look: The IBM ThinkPad T40. Andres E. Mukk takes a look at IBM's latest T series notebook and how well it runs under under IBM's latest version of OS/2.
Next up, Per Johansson gives us a concise commentary on the products of Sundial Systems in No Cloud On Sundial's Face.
Mark Dodel wants to let you in on a new process handling utility he has found recently CAD Handler. Hopefully you find this VIO application as useful as he did.
Our last feature article for July is Beth Flunker's Switchable drive drawers may be your answer to multiple operating systems. If you are looking for a more convenient and safe way to play with the newest versions of OS/2-eComStation or you are really looking for a reckless thrill and install one of the highly invasive operating systems from microsoft, this might be the route for you.
Finally we have the VOICE Newsletter OS/2 Tips page and the Letters, Addenda, Errata page. If you have any OS/2 or eCS tips you've uncovered, please send them to tipsDESPAM@os2voice.org. If you have any comments or suggestions about the newsletter or articles in it, please send them to editorDESPAM@os2voice.org.
That's it for this month. Upcoming articles include a look at the Workplace Shell Toolkit by Christian Langanke; "Installing eCS on a supermarket notebook." by Dieter Zoomers; "Using the HP PhotoSmart 1000 with OS/2", by Stuart Updike; "Creating Scripts to Automate Application Migration", by Chris Clayton; "OS/2 and ISDN - loving couple or cold relationship?" by Eric Baerwaldt; and the next articles in the series on DrDialog, by Thomas Klein.
Mark Dodel, Christian Hennecke, Marckus Kraft and Jason R. Stefanovich
VOICE Newsletter editors
[Feature Index]
editor@os2voice.org
[Previous Page] [Newsletter Index] [Next Page]
VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org