From The President December 2020 - Melbourne PC User Group

David Stonier-Gibson

Reopening

I was delighted earlier in the month to be able to put out an all-member email heralding the re-opening of our Moorabbin club rooms and workshop. Some rules and restrictions still apply, but we can now go back in. The first face to face SIG meeting will be “Microcontroller Workshop” on Saturday 5^th December. I am also planning a Christmas party for the Microcontroller SIG at its traditional December meeting.

Do note that SIG leaders must preregister 5 days ahead with the office (9276 4000) to use the rooms, just to avoid conflicts. If you want to make an individual visit please call ahead to be sure it’s open – full time staffing is not guaranteed at present.

Non-Moorabbin SIGs must comply with whatever rules are set by the venues they use.

Club rooms transformation

The erstwhile Internet Lounge has now been stripped right back, and the windows opened up to let in daylight from the atrium. Soon it will be ready to put back together again as a totally transformed space. I am hoping we can make it into a place for members to simply hang out and socialise with comfortable furniture and inviting décor and lighting, maybe with a coffee machine, video games, magazine rack, a large screen TV for members to get together and watch the footy finals.

As you can see from the picture all the computers have been relocated. If you want to use any of the specialised machines, please contact the office (9276 4000) to make arrangements. Remember: we are all volunteers so we can’t offer instant service. Sorry for the disruption, but eggs sometimes have to be cracked.

Jaycar discount

I am delighted to report that finally I have an arrangement for all members to receive a discount at Jaycar electronics. There seemed to be some administrative holdups at the Jaycar end, and maybe I wasn’t pestering enough during peak Covid, but one phone call to the new manager at our local Cheltenham store got it sorted – I hope! When shopping at any Jaycar you should be able to get the discount simply by showing your Melb PC membership card and quoting our customer account number XXXXXXXXX (Please see PDF version of PC Update if you are looking for this code). Please let me know if you experience any difficulties – I am frankly unsure of how well the arrangement will work.

ASCCA courses

The ASCCA (Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association) ran a number of computer related courses in November, and is doing more in December. I picked up on that and publicised it to our members. As a result Melb PC provided the bulk of enrolments for the courses: 55 members attended in November and so far 49 have applied for December courses. The program has been so successful, with our involvement that ASCCA had to apply limits to the number of participants. A win-win for both organisations and a big win for our members.

Transition to Google

The transition to Google Workspace continues slowly but surely. The issue with email forwarding caused by something outside our control being changed, is now resolved. Happily, no emails have been lost.

The transition team is giving priority to members who use Melb PC as their primary email service. 40% of those members have been successfully migrated.

The iHelp team report that the average time spent providing personalised help to those members who need it is one hour. It is proving to be a massive job, much bigger than anticipated. So I thank all those iHelp people who are putting in all this effort, especially as the response has been 95% favourable.