Last Updated: Thursday, June 4, 1998
The Rhode Island Apple Group -- Rhode Island's First Apple Computer Club! P.O.Box 6081, Providence, RI 02940-6081

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Thoughts from the big chair...


 How many times have we been warned that computer systems will fail, it's not a question of "IF" it's a question of "WHEN". Are you prepared for that eventuality? This month's main meeting will be a demonstration of Norton Utilities. It is timely since I don't remember ever seeing a demo or any meeting about utilities. I am writing this a day after I had a serious system failure on my Mac. I was not prepared for it and had to dig out the MacWorld Secrets book to figure out what was going on. I had to boot from an emergency startup disk - one that I was supposed to create when I updated my system to Mac OS 8.1, but never got around to it. I ended up booting from the 8.0 disk then reinstalling version 8.0 and then updating to 8.1. I eventually was able to recover completely from the problem, but without a proper utilities program I was wondering what will happen the next time. I will be very interested in seeing what Norton's can do! (BTW, I now have a proper emergency start-up disk!)

As you've seen in last month's newsletter there are big things going on at Apple Corp. They've introduced the new iMac, Apple's vision of the future and new G3 Power Books along with some very effective advertising. There will be an Apple Demo Days event at CompUSA in Warwick on June 14. Apple people from the Marketing and Training office in Boston will be there to demonstrate and to answer any questions. The last one was very well attended and we had some people there to hand out newsletters and business cards. This is a great opportunity for us and Apple to not only show off it's great product line but also show that there is support in the form of user groups like ourselves. If you can make it down there for any part of the day please do so and watch out for some great specials and giveaways.

A piece of information you should file away about these Apple Demo Days - Apple hires a few user group members to help out at the demos. A couple of weeks before the event there will be a message looking for demonstrators. You need to send them a resume covering your expertise with Apple systems, especially the new G3's and the software that's loaded on them - Mac OS 8.1, MicroSoft Office, ClarisWorks, internet access, etc. When I get the message I try to send it to as many people I have e-mail addresses for. If anyone is interested in doing this for a future Demo Days event I would recommend letting me or the board know about it. You could also ask the Apple people at the Demo Days event or send a message to Apple.

These events are a great way for us to attract new members. Another way is for us to talk about our group and bring in a new member. Did you know that if you sponsor a new member you will receive 3 free months added to your membership. Well, I hope to see you at the next meeting and bring a friend!

John Gentile

Want to learn more about the Rhode Island Apple Group? Select this link, or send me email!

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