Larry Aronson and Edwin Black at NYPC meeting Wednesday 19 May 1999

[Don Saklad]

NYPC is a well established users group with several active
Special Interest Groups.

http://www.catalog.com/nypc


Larry Aronson is an author, a teacher, and a hacker.
He is a Director of The World Wide Web Artists Consortium and
Sys Admin and one of the List Moms of the WWWhackoes' Mailing List,
which today runs on a free OS.

http://www.laronson.com/homepage.html
http://wwwac.org


Edwin Black has written an introduction, aimed at new home users, to
the IBM style peecee.  This manual is called "format C:", the standard
first command used to clean the peecee's hard disk.  This command is
required to ensure smooth operation.


Below are particulars, taken from NYPC's web page, of their next
general meeting.

Jay Sulzberger <secretary (a) lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org




                 NYPC General Meeting

                 Wednesday May 19, 1999

                 Topic: Linux - The Next Hot Operating System

                 PS 41 Auditorium
                 116 West 11th Street Just West of 6th Avenue 

Via subway:
A, B, C, D, E, F, Q, to West 4th Street (IND Trains)
#1, 2, 3, 9, L 14th Street 7th Avenue (IRT Trains)

Via Path:
take the 33rd Street line to 9th Street Station
(6th Avenue and 9th Street)

NYPC's General Meetings are free and open to the public.

To check on the NYPC General Meeting or get up-to-the-minute details
about the Speakers, call the NYPC Hotline
(212) 533-NYPC and enter the code 111 then the code GEN.

You may interrupt the recording at any time by entering another 3
letter code.

               
                
                 Linux - The Next Hot Operating System

UNIX has been touted as "the next big thing" for the last 10 years.
Recently it has been gaining momentum as a fast and reliable
alternative to Windows. UNIX was the standard operating system for
Internet servers and as the Internet has gained popularity, so has
UNIX.

Several companies came out with their own versions of UNIX, and each
was a little different from the others. Recently a freeware version
called Linux emerged as a grass-roots standard. Linux came out of the
open source code movement.

Corporations were reluctant to commit themselves to a freeware product
that had no company standing behind it to support it. When Red Hat
Software started selling Linux and offering professional tech support,
everything changed. MIS managers were able to move to Linux with the
confidence that they were buying into a "standard flavor" of UNIX with
professional tech support.

Come find out more about Linux, and decide for yourself if it really
is the next hot operating system. This will be an introductory meeting
presented by Larry Aronson, an excellent speaker and highly
knowledgeable.

Larry has been a systems analyst for nearly 30 years. In 1994 he wrote
the first book on web publishing, the HTML Manual of Style.

Larry has been heavily involved in the Internet as a consultant
specializing in: web design and development, Internet and HTML
training, technical documentation and online guides. Larry also speaks
at trade shows and has written numerous articles for magazines.

Larry is on the board of World Wide Web Artists' Consortium
http://wwwac.org

He is also their Systems Administrator, supervising the WWWAC's
website and its email discussion lists.


Larry Aronson can be reached at:
http://www.laronson.com/homepage.html

                 -- Laura Balsam 


Quotes from the Circuits section of the New York Times April 22, 1999.

"Linux's Popular Creator Steals Show From Microsoft"

Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system was
scheduled give an address at Spring Comdex this week. "The original
venue was a small conference room that would hold about 100
people. When the line started forming two hours early the event was
moved to a room that would hold about 500 people. Even that was not
big enough. The crowd estimated at about 1,500 filled the room and
spilled out into the halls."

Someone asked if he ( Torvalds ) had nightmares about the security
issues surrounding Linux.

"No, but I think that users should have nightmares about trusting
their software security to the control of a single vendor."


                 format c:

                 a novel by Edwin Black 

It is most appropriate that the presentation of Linux be followed by
Edwin Black, whose engrossing novel, "format c:", presents a battle
between an operating system designed to manipulate--and ultimately
control--its users, and one designed to "help you do anything you
wish."

This novel is a complex morality tale which may be read on many
levels.  There are discussions of the ever-present conflict between
Good and Evil.  But on another level the author talks about the
problems of making computer technology accessible to the non-tekkie
reader. The following is a quote that particularly applies to groups
such as ours.

"Computer user groups often represent something far more charismatic
than simple support circles....Graphics programs, word processors,
databases, programming languages, operating systems, even tools and
utilities, although nothing more than an elongated assemblage of ones
and zeros existing in an esoteric, electronic state, each bit of any
software worth its salt and sectors generates its own cultic
following...Members...identify personally and deeply with their
software, advocating its proliferation, rising to its defense, beta
testing its upgrades, organizing discussion groups, attending
conventions and proudly labeling themselves as
devotees....inexplicably find self-worth and validation in software."

NYPC has been has been witness to the beginnings of many software
programs that are now well established. This novel speaks to issues
that are part of the daily computer press. Indeed this book is thought
provoking. Lets ask Mr. Black to talk about the line that separates
his novel from current events.

                 -- by Mary Ginsburg