February 3, 2012
The meeting was called to order at 7:45 p.m. by Executive Vice President Sally Holt. Harold Smith at the Ticket Table has 3" x 5" cards to write questions for discussion/answers at the end of the Meeting. New and renewing members see Jan. Remember to get your door prize tickets and raffle tickets from Harold. The raffle prize this month is a ViewSonic 8 inch Digital Photo Frame, with 4:3 Ratio and Slideshow capability.
We are still looking for a permanent place for the Clubhouse refurbishing project.
The Club needs someone to coordinate presentations, not develop them necessarily. If you are willing to help, please let Chuck know. We also need folks to help with publicity—getting information out around town, putting Newsletters in businesses, libraries, etc.
SIG Announcements:
The Windows 7 SIG will meet at Bud Gallagher's at 1 p.m. on the 11th, the customary second Saturday after the Main Meeting. The tentatively scheduled presentation is Trouble-shooting Windows Networks. The last set of the Mark Liron CD's is available for SIG members who have not yet gotten theirs.
The Spectacular Linux SIG meets at 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of the month, February 25. Some creative solutions to the new Gnome interface are being developed. A look at some of those, plus any Linux projects that anyone brings in.
As usual, the Hardware SIG will meet the evening after the Main Meeting at 8 p.m. at the Smith's. Come to get help with your hardware or learn how to fix someone else's if your world is running smoothly. Be sure to bring all the documentation you can find. Even when it's a hardware problem, software is usually involved. Call the Smith's if you need directions.
Elsie Smith noted the needs that PCC has, as noted in the Newsletter. Anyone preferring to get their Newsletter as a PDF only can arrange to do so by emailing Jan Fagerholm and Elsie. A correct, updated email address is essential. This led to a discussion of the relative advantages of electronic and paper distribution of newsletters.
Presentations:
Jan Fagerholm demonstrated the developer preview version of Windows 8. Windows 8 is designed as a tablet interface. Microsoft is trying to catch up with the tablet market. Current Windows applications do not run on any of the popular tablets. The few Windows tablets on the market run poorly because they do not have the power to run Windows 7. Over the years Windows operating systems have demanded more and more power and Intel has developed more powerful processors. On the demo tablet, Windows 8 started in 1/3 of the time it takes Jan's 3GHz desktop. At this point in time, the installation process automatically uses your WindowsLive password and cannot be changed, a caution that may or may not get fixed in the final release. Many of the Metro (the current name for Windows 8) buttons/tiles don't connect to software yet. The way one accomplishes a 'right click' on a button is to press-and-hold. Buttons react by tipping towards an edge that is touched. This indicates that eventually context-dependent menus may materialize.
While one can run traditional applications in Windows 8, the tablet interface is not very friendly for desktop application menus and interfaces, such as office suites. Stay tuned to find out if the desktop version will be identical with the tablet version. In the pre-release version, the wireless and Bluetooth connectors don't yet work reliably. The tablet convention of pinch-zoom gestures to change screen magnification works in some places so far. The Start Button goes to the Metro Interface (the desktop tile interface). Dragging up from the lower left corner brings up the equivalent of the basic Start/Control Panel menu. Tap the Start Button to go to the Metro Interface.
After the Break:
Sally introduced the 2012 Executive Committee:
President: Chuck Horner
Executive Vice President: Sally Holt
Treasurer: Tom Smith
Secretary: Bayle Emlein
Membership: Jan Fagerholm
Clubhouse: Sid Jordan
Newsletter: Elsie Smith
Marketing: Open
Programs: Open
Non-Voting Positions
Projector Coordinator: Jan Fagerholm
Webmaster: Diane George
APCUG Rep: Diane George
Refreshments: George Kornbluth
There were no Questions for the Experts.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bayle Emlein, Secretary
