------------------------------------------------------------ UniNews The Biweekly Newsletter For UniForum Members ------------------------------------------------------------ Issue Date: July 06, 1994 Volume VIII, Number 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ UniNews is written and published by UniForum's publications department. For information on articles in this issue or to contribute news to future issues, contact Don Dugdale at don@uniforum.org or (408) 986-8840, ext. 29, or (800) 255-5620 ext. 29. Copyright 1994 by UniForum. All rights reserved. UNIX is a registered trademark, licensed exclusively by X/Open Co., Ltd. UniForum is a trademark of UniForum. Printed in USA. UniNews (ISSN 1069-0395) is published biweekly for $12 per year (membership dues) by UniForum, 2901 Tasman Dr., Suite 205, Santa Clara, CA 95054. Except for individual use by member subscribers, no portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of UniForum. UniNews is presented in ASCII format. It is also available in PostScript by accessing the UniForum World Wide Web Server. Point your WWW client to http://www.uniforum.org. ------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: o OSF Responds to UniForum Members' Opinions o SGI's Ed McCracken To Keynote UniForum '95 o PST-A New Way to Develop Open Systems Technology o Out of Denmark: An Open Systems Unifier o UniForum On-line Products Directory Presented at Web Conference o Conference & Seminar Member Survey o Affiliate News o UniForum, SEF Co-sponsor Open Systems SIG o UniNews Recruitment and Positions Wanted o For Cold Summer Nights... o UniForum Member Benefits ------------------------------------------------------------ OSF Responds to UniForum Members' Opinions ------------------------------------------- Says future will bring more end user solutions, sooner [Editor's Note: In our last issue, we reported on a number of member responses to a UniNews query on the Open Software Foundation (OSF) reorganization announced last March. Roger Gourd, Open Software Foundation vice president and chief of staff, submitted the following comments in answer to those questions:] 1. How do you think the OSF move will benefit end users, or does it only concern vendors? Gourd: The OSF move is designed to facilitate more end-user solutions, sooner, and with an increased potential for buy-in across many vendors for the technology and specification derived under the new model. It is not only vendors who should be concerned here. We all are certainly aware that the vendor community has long frustrated users through lack of clear focus and attention, and timeliness for open systems solutions. Perhaps now that most of the "wars" are over, the vendor community can get on with addressing the needs of the open systems environments. 2. OSF says the new structure will make its processes more open to end-user input. Do you agree? Gourd: I most certainly agree, but I question your semantics for "more open." OSF openness has been well exhibited for six years, and I assure you it will continue. This should not be confused however with any up-front efforts which PST proposers initiate in order to author their proposals. Be sure to understand distinctions between "open/closed/proprietary" and "public/private"-OSF always has been able to so I ask the same of the open systems community. 3. What is the next logical step for UNIX unification? Gourd: I could offer a few steps that I envision, but I find the behavior in reaction to such "brainstorming" only (and yes, sadly) puts a focus on the sort of ego and judgment-trampling our community can well do without right now. In the near term, I am encouraged that the chairman of the OSF Board of Directors [Dennis Roberson] comes from AT&T. That must say that we've done much right through OSF's six-year life! And I'd add that with the increased base of sponsors there certainly seems to be an admission that unification, if not here now, is so close that we can all sense its presence. The next logical step is to move rapidly with Spec 1170 compliance and additional breadth and depth. And we need to realize that UNIX, or operating systems in general, are really no longer of interest. We need to get on with standards, with portability, and with interoperability at the middleware level. [UniNews also asked members what they wanted to know about OSF's pre-structured technology (PST) development model. We found that they wanted to know a lot-mostly a complete explanation of what PST is. For answers, see the related article in this issue. Gourd also had the following replies to specific member comments on the above questions:] [The OSF changes] will help with the addition of new technology into UNIX. - Gary Michael Clark, San Antonio, TX Gourd: That is certainly the intent for the open systems industry. Prior to our March announcement of new sponsors and a new process, and most certainly since, OSF staff have been hard at work to get ready for, and to seek out more technology solutions, sooner. We, as well as our 15 sponsors, realize that if this intent is not satisfied, the issues of most concern to users will continue to be frustrated-not good news for any vendor, I'm sure. I think end users will receive many benefits by simple implementation of GUI and applications APIs. - Nobuaki Hashizume, Mountain View, CA Gourd: This can certainly be the good news (after all this time) if vendors better respond to the collaborative sharing required by focusing solutions through OSF. This implies continued recognition that to win in the open systems marketplace, there will need to be consideration for giving up some of the specs and code seen from vendors today as value-added or a competitive advantage. Only through products that ease user installation, environment management, application portability and consistency against standards will the users realize their expectations for open systems. What if some new startup creates the perfect operating system that will run on any platform? Won't that take away some of the meat (or bread and butter) of our system of competition in these areas? - David McCall, Rohnert Park, CA Gourd: This raises a question I'm hard put to answer in the '90s. With the massive investments in vendor applications aligned with their systems, and with the strength of alliances that some ISVs have with their favorite vendors (if only for volume), I find it difficult to envision the new OS which will capture massive interest/attention in the marketplace. Operating systems are not the major subject today-ease of use and portability for applications seems to me to be a major sticking point, as is convenience in adapting the complete user environment for profitable interoperability within an enterprise. I think OSF is concerned only with vendors, but it will be interesting to find out more about this new strategy. - David A. Trevino Rodriguez, Monterrey, Mexico Gourd: This may be a natural conclusion since the majority of revenue and technical collaboration comes from vendors, but it misses the point. OSF believes open systems solutions are for the users of computing. Corporations adopt open systems strategies to try and save themselves money in their day-to-day operations. We work hard to apply input from users as influence on the mind-sets of vendors as they adopt technologies and the standardization implied by OSF specifications, to build products. [The change in OSF] will benefit end users because it will move UNIX farther down the path to true plug and play standardization. For the vendors, it will be a benefit because more software companies and end users will look into UNIX as a viable market to enter. - Brad Bright, Irvine, CA Gourd: This most certainly captures the intent of OSF, both on the part of its own staff and on the part of the companies with whom we are pleased to be associated as sponsors and as contributors. The Architecture Planning Council (sponsors, X/Open, and end users), the board of directors (sponsors, X/Open, and an end user representative), and the OSF staff are committed to helping the open systems movement overall. The proof will be in the continued works evolving from the OSF collaborative. OSF is of no benefit to anyone except OSF. It is a bureaucracy beholden to itself - Kim L. Shiveley, Richardson, TX Gourd: This makes me think that either our message is not properly tuned, or perhaps more correctly, that some will never "buy" the message. That is certainly OK, indeed we work best here at OSF when we're challenged to a better job sooner than expected. I believe it does the sponsors of OSF no harm to hear the critics. Only through sponsor response with accepted open systems products and specifications of merit will the critics be proved wrong. We have "talked the talk" and now the newly shaped OSF, with its increased community of sponsor support, needs to "walk the walk." Timeliness is key. As we complete our commitments and obligations planned for 1994 (releases of Motif, OSF/1, DME NMO, DCE; interoperability certifications; continued work within the OSF Research Institute; continued support, service and training), we are also positioning ourselves for the "proof" of our new capabilities via the newly defined PST process, for more technology solutions, sooner. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ SGI's Ed McCracken To Keynote UniForum '95 ------------------------------------------- Edward R. McCracken, chairman and CEO of Mountain View, CA-based Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), has accepted UniForum's invitation to address the opening general session of UniForum '95 on Tuesday March 14, 1995, at the Dallas Convention Center. SGI is best known for its line of powerful UNIX-based graphics workstations and for its pioneering work in developing multimedia applications for open systems professionals. SGI was most recently in the news with its announcement of a joint venture with AT&T Network Systems to be called Integrated Digital Solutions, which will provide media servers to link digitized information with home and office environments through television. Details on McCracken's address will be in later issues of UniNews. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ PST-A New Way to Develop Open Systems Technology ------------------------------------------------- OSF hopes to get more technology to the market, faster [Last March the Open Software Foundation (OSF) announced, as part of its reorganization, a new development process designed to get more open systems technology to the market faster-the pre-structured technology (PST) process. When we queried UniForum members about PST a few weeks ago, the most common response was, "What is it?" Here's an explanation.] PST, according to OSF, will allow groups of open systems companies-OSF sponsors or others-to initiate proposals to fund and develop new open systems technology. It will also allow OSF to manage the programs and license the technologies, but will place development in the hands of companies or organizations outside OSF. What that will accomplish, both vendors and end users are hoping, is to get more open systems technology to market faster than OSF has been able to do on its own, because of its limited staffing. As explained in a just-published overview by OSF, PST will have five phases: *** The Authoring Phase "In this phase, an authoring group forms to write a PST proposal addressing a need in the open systems industry. The authoring group need not be comprised of OSF sponsors or members. It may invite additional participation or may keep the work private until submitting it to the OSF for review. "OSF is available to provide consulting help during the authoring phase," according to the document. The distributed computing environment (DCE) developed by OSF and a combined Motif GUI and common desktop environment (CDE) project are both in the authoring phase now for their follow-on development after current releases are out-CDE 1.0 at the end of 1994, DCE 1.1 probably in November, and Motif 2.0 just released. While anyone may initiate a PST proposal, at least two OSF sponsors are required to sponsor one. *** The Project Approval Phase Once a PST proposal is submitted to OSF: o "The proposal is reviewed by OSF and its membership. The review process provides the OSF Board of Directors with the information necessary for them to approve it." o "The authoring group starts to form the project steering committee (PSC), which oversees the project and negotiates necessary contracts. The PSC includes representatives from project sponsors, OSF, and an end-user company." OSF staff members review the proposal's technology, project plan, business and legal aspects. They see whether the project meets a user need, whether OSF can re-license the technology, and whether it meets cost and other guidelines. Then the plan is formalized. *** PST Approval Phase The PST is submitted to the OSF Board of Directors with funding commitments from sponsor companies and a selected prime contractor. A two-thirds vote is required for new PSTs, a one-third vote for follow-on projects. *** Funding Phase The project steering committee becomes official. OSF contracts with the prime contractor, obtains funding, and assigns project staff. OSF sponsor companies that have not participated in the authoring phase are given a chance to become sponsors and provide financial support. *** Project Development and Ship Phase The prime contractor manages development. The project steering committee sets project policy and strategy. "The OSF Project and Program Management Group provides overall program management and reporting, auditing of the prime contractor, and representation of the technology to the OSF membership, industry, forums and standards bodies. The OSF Business Development group sets OSF pricing and licensing terms and promotes the technology the project produces." While technology developed through the PST process is available to project sponsors first, OSF makes the technology available to the industry when the project is finished. Sponsors may also release the technology. "The specifications for the technologies are submitted to appropriate standards or specification bodies (such as X/Open) for their consideration." *** Will It Work? If the new process works, in a year's time, OSF will have more projects in the process than it is now working on. "Each individual project may not happen any faster using this process than had we done the development," says Jack Dwyer, OSF public relations director. "We can do more of them. We can bring more technology to market faster than we could have brought them to market ourselves." Throughout the PST process, OSF will have a new means of drawing on end-user expertise and advice. An End-User Steering Committee is headed by Ted Hanss, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Information Technology Integration. End-user representatives sit on the OSF Architecture Planning Council and at least one will sit on each project steering committee. But opinion is divided on how well the yet-untried system will work. "Every possible opinion is represented among the end-users," says Steve Jenkins, a member of the End-User Steering Committee and software engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. "If there is a consensus, it is that we have the determination to make it work. It's different from being optimistic or pessimistic. We were involved in ways that we found pretty much satisfactory in the reorganization itself. We are determined to work within the structure set up and to try to make it succeed. "Open systems will succeed or fail based on whether it satisfies end-user business requirements, period," Jenkins says. "We believe in open systems. We want it to succeed, and we want to do whatever we can to clearly articulate our business requirements and to give the OSF sponsors an opportunity to succeed at filling them. The fundamental thing is that this will all succeed if we're telling them what we need and they're selling it to us, and we're buying it." End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ Out of Denmark: An Open Systems Unifier ---------------------------------------- Kim Biel-Nielsen leads Europe's latest unification effort Name: Kim Biel-Nielsen Age: 45 Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark Position: Managing director, Uniware Denmark Years in Current Position: 3 Years in the Industry: 18 Association Leadership: Vice chairman, Danish UNIX Users' Group (DKUUG); chairman, EurOpen Pet Open Systems Peeve: "That people believe Microsoft is open. We got rid of the "B" in IBM and we are about to go into a new proprietary world controlled by Intel and Microsoft." Management Philosophy: "Delegate as much as possible, preferably everything. Give individuals the power to make the decisions that are necessary for their jobs and for their lives. It's astonishing to find that if you give people the power to make the decisions, how large a percentage of right decisions they make." If the task of bringing the open systems world together through associations can be seen as a cause, Kim Biel-Nielsen is one of its foremost evangelists. One of the founders of the Danish UNIX Users' Group and the new chairman of EurOpen, Biel-Nielsen preaches the value of group action and cooperation to anyone who will listen. And he does it with a distinct Danish flair. Biel-Nielsen was born in Copenhagen in 1949 and his parents immigrated to the United States in the early '50s. After about five years, they moved to Sweden, where Biel-Nielsen got his education through high school. In 1970, he moved once more with his family, this time back to Denmark, where he attended the University of Copenhagen. His attempt to become a chemical engineer ended when "I failed horribly in math, several times." Then, by accident, he discovered a course in computers and changed his course of study. In 1976 Biel-Nielsen, now married, got his first job in computers with IBM in Copenhagen. Later he took a position with S.C. Metric, a Danish distributor of other companies' hardware and software. In 1991 the company spun off its UNIX software division, which became Uniware Denmark. Biel-Nielsen was named the new company's managing director, a position he still holds. Biel-Nielsen's first experience with the concept of open systems came in 1982 when his company was distributing computers from the U.S. company Zilog. That company had developed a commercial UNIX system called the Zilog System 8000. "From 1982 to 1985 or '86, when Zilog discontinued manufacture of these systems, S.C. Metric had become the dominant Danish supplier of UNIX hardware," Biel-Nielsen remembers. "We had a very large installed base when they decided to discontinue building the systems. In order the sell the systems, we had gained the distribution rights of a number of software products, including Informix and Uniplex. We were then approached by other software companies in the market, who said they had almost lost out to us, and couldn't we sell the software products for them instead? Then we said that rather than find a new hardware product, why not become a distributor of software? We did that and it's proven to be a successful strategy." Biel-Nielsen likens his current job as managing director of Uniware to walking a tightrope. "Whenever you deal with somebody, you have to be good enough that they don't find somebody else. On the other hand, you shouldn't be so good that they decide the business is lucrative enough that they should go into it themselves. What you always need to do is get new products so that you can follow the market. If you don't get new products as the market changes, you will eventually find yourself behind the market." On the other hand, Uniplex and Informix, the products his company started with, are still its best sellers. Although Uniware has purposely restricted itself to the Danish market, it's toying with expanding its horizons, but cautiously. "In a relatively small market, you are operating under a kind of geographic and cultural protection," Biel-Nielsen notes. "You are probably not totally geared to compete in the larger markets. If we were to go into another market, I think we ought to go into a small market because we understand how a small market works. I don't think we really understand how a big market works." Denmark's UNIX Club A year or so after that introduction to UNIX, Biel-Nielsen was approached by a group of students who wanted to establish a UNIX club in Denmark. "I felt that it was a wonderful idea," he remembers. "We sat together, 20 people or so, and decided to form the Danish UNIX User Group, DKUUG. We just had our 10-year anniversary. Keld Simonsen, the chairman, and myself were among the first board members." Both are still on the board and Simonsen is still chairman, Biel-Nielsen has been vice chairman for the past three years. "Where Keld is a tremendously technical university and academic type, I am much more business oriented. So from the very first day we managed to get the Danish user group to be wide enough to provide a home for both the "suits" and the "techies." And I believe that by having that span of interest, we have managed to grow the DKUUG to be the most successful UNIX association in the world." As evidence for that claim, Biel-Nielsen cites his group's membership of 1,100 out of the Danish population of five million. We've never come across an association that had the same percentage of the total population." Why so many? One reason is Denmark's cultural climate. "It is natural for people to be members of associations. People like to do it and they get very much involved. They come to the meetings and put up proposals and are willing to do a lot of voluntary work." The other reason is that the association has carefully made room for both technical and commercial UNIX people. "We said we wanted to provide services which are of interest to everybody," he says. The group provides a professionally written newsletter, as well as 10 to 12 meetings a year on technical topics, as well as marketing and executive-level topics. In addition, more informal "club meetings" give members a chance to socialize and discuss the latest industry news. The DKUUG pioneered expansion of the Internet in Northern Europe, providing gateways to Norway, Finland, and Estonia. Those areas now have a direct connection to Amsterdam and use the Danish lines for backup. The Danish Internet hub, DKNet, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the DKUUG, employs 10 persons and turns over $1 million to $2 million a year. "Every six months we have to double the line capability, just because of the explosion in traffic." Currently, the DKUUG is campaigning worldwide for the right to use the three Danish national alphabetic characters in computer systems. Getting Europe Together Biel-Nielsen's association with EurOpen began eight years ago when he joined the board of directors. As the umbrella organization for Europe's open systems associations, EurOpen has had trouble finding its niche. The original concept called for a head tax on members of all the European open systems groups, so that EurOpen would get part of their membership dues. In turn, EurOpen provided a number of services, including a technical newsletter, technical conferences and public domain software. That system worked fine until some of the larger associations began to get so big that they became self-sufficient. Then the head tax concept no longer seemed fair to the larger groups. "We were adding national groups from developing Eastern European countries which were unable to pay for the services, but they had high requirements for the services. The taxes were imposed on the large associations, which didn't need the services because they were providing for themselves. So we had a rapidly deteriorating system. EurOpen declined very much." Biel-Nielsen was then voted out of the executive leadership and an attempt was made to rescue the situation by adding expensive central services and staff. However, about two years ago the national groups rebelled and voted in a new executive, in which Biel-Nielsen was included. They implemented a new structure that they called Eurocheap, meaning that "everything that cost money was slashed." And instead of paying a head tax based on the number of members, the national groups had the option several categories of membership. The EurOpen newsletter and conferences were discontinued, and EUNet, the European Internet, was spun off. However, a realization began to grow that the cost-cutting had gone too far. "We had managed to remove the reason for EurOpen to exist by really removing every service," Biel-Nielsen says. "At the last governing board meeting I proposed a change of direction, and at the same time decided to run for chairman. I got elected as chair for two years and we got to re-launch central services, but in a new and different way." Although the process hasn't been formally agreed to, EurOpen plans to join with UniForum, USENIX and other national groups into a world citizenship of UNIX user groups. "The idea behind this is that if you are a member of any open systems user group, you have the right to use the services of another group when you visit that territory." EurOpen also is building a new European newsletter, taking the best articles from other association newsletters. In a test launch recently, the new EurOpen Quarterly secured 5,000 commitments for subscriptions. "Without a publication at the EurOpen level, we don't have a common vehicle to speak to the members, or to the members of the member associations." Biel-Nielsen also hopes to launch a pilot program for EurOpen value-added network services, involving use of the World Wide Web to spread information about the services and activities of all the European associations. "And we hope that by 1995 we will be able to re-launch conferences or specialized workshops at the European level. What we have to do for the next two years is to make the association visible and make it something that the members may be proud of. Once we've done that, we want to extend the range of this so that people understand the concept of joint citizenship between groups. I see the synergy of the World Wide Web and the global citizenship of open systems groups making people understand what happens in other parts of the world. In the end, they may feel they have been enriched by this." End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ UniForum On-line Products Directory Presented at Web Conference ---------------------------------------------------------------- UniForum's project that made its 1994 Open Systems Products Directory available for members on the Internet was the subject of a discussion at the First International World Wide-Web Conference. The conference was held May 25-27 at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, just outside Geneva, Switzerland. Speaking for UniForum, IS Manager Robert Boucher described the products directory project to a publishing workshop. The directory became available in March through the World-Wide Web, allowing general members access to the entire contents of the 1,672-page printed products directory through hypertext links. "We seem to be the only ones doing database publishing on the Web," Boucher says. "I haven't seen anyone else doing it. Other databases are on-line but they were not originally in printed form." Of special interest to the workshop attendees was UniForum's method of protecting the product directory database from access by non-members, Boucher said. Many are interested in selling information via the Web but have not ventured into that area. "The whole excitement is about commercialization-how it can be used to improve business. We're on the cutting edge in restricting access to paid members," Boucher says. Boucher used standard software tools available in current release for the directory project and did not do any software development himself, he notes, adding, "We're lucky in that our documents are very simple." Publishers of magazines are worried that they may lose either advertisers or subscribers if their publications become available on the Web. Other issues that arose in the publishing workshop included how to present a publication in its original layout and the question of copyrights and lack of control over a publication in electronic form. Another major topic of discussion at the conference was the future of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), a stripped-down version of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), that is used in formatting documents for the Web. Using markup tags in the text, HTML describes the structure of a document so that the document can be portable from one machine to another. Discussion mainly centered around what changes should go into version 3.0, the next release of HTML, to improve on the current version 2.0. HTML 2.0 includes all the current functions of the Mosaic interface program for the Web. While the next version is expected to address text formatting issues such as centering of text, many urged that it also deal with graphical presentation of mathematical formulas, an issue important to the academic-minded attendees. The Second International World-Wide Web Conference '94, hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, is scheduled for Oct. 17-20 in Chicago, IL. More information is available via: (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/IT94/IT94Info.html). Or send e-mail to lori@osf.org or phone (617) 621-7343. As always, you can access the UniForum World Wide Web server by pointing your client to http://www.uniforum.org. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ Conference & Seminar Member Survey ----------------------------------- Your opinion is very valuable to us. The first 100 responses will receive a gift from UniForum as a token of our appreciation for your time. UniForum is planning a series of "Best of UniForum" conferences and seminars to follow UF '95 next March. To better serve you, our members, please take a moment to complete the following questionnaire so we can plan accordingly. Name: ____________________________________________________________________ Title: _____________________________________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________ City: ________________________________ State: _____ Zip: ______________________ Country: _____________________________ Telephone: ( ____) _____________________ E-mail: ______________________________ Fax: (____) ___________________________ How many computer industry conferences/seminars do you attend annually? ____ 0-5 ____ 5-10 ____ over 10 What are your primary determinants for attending a conference/seminar? Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 10 (1- high and 10- low). ____ Topic(s) ____ Speaker(s) ____ Group Discounts ____ Peer Interaction ____ Location ____ Costs ____ Other:_____________________________ Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 - excellent and 10-poor) which cities you prefer to attend conferences/seminars. ____ San Francisco ____ Minneapolis _____ Europe (list city below) ____ Los Angeles ____ Atlanta _________________ ____ Dallas ____ Orlando _________________ ____ Chicago ____ Seattle _____ Asia (list city below) ____ New York City ____ Portland _________________ ____ Denver ____ Las Vegas _________________ ____ Other (list city below) ____ Boston ________________ ____ Canada (list city below) ________________ __________________ What sources of information most influence your attending conferences/seminars: High Medium Low Direct Mail _____ _____ _____ Sales Calls _____ _____ _____ Advertisements _____ _____ _____ Colleagues _____ _____ _____ Magazine Articles _____ _____ _____ Technology Trend Topics at Conferences/Seminars: (please check) Very Somewhat Not At No Valuable Valuable All Valuable Opinion Client/Server Computing ______ ______ ______ ______ Distributed Systems Mgmt. ______ ______ ______ ______ Large, High-Volume Solutions ______ ______ ______ ______ PCs in the Open Sys. Environ. ______ ______ ______ ______ MFs in the Open Sys. Environ. ______ ______ ______ ______ Mission-Critical Open Systems ______ ______ ______ ______ Capacity Mgmt. & Planning ______ ______ ______ ______ Internet/Information Highway ______ ______ ______ ______ Downsizing/Rightsizing ______ ______ ______ ______ Workgroup Solutions ______ ______ ______ ______ Object Computing ______ ______ ______ ______ Open Systems Networking ______ ______ ______ ______ Database Management ______ ______ ______ ______ Emerging Technologies & Apps. ______ ______ ______ ______ Open Operating Systems ______ ______ ______ ______ Software Development ______ ______ ______ ______ Other:______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Which content level do you prefer: ____ Management Level ____ Technical Level Which venue do you prefer: ____ Tutorial (academic) ____ Roundtable Discussions (with end user participation) ____ Formal Presentations (led by industry experts) ____ Panel Discussions (showcasing solution case studies) ____ Other:_________________________________________________________________ What is the most valuable computer industry conference/seminar you've attended and why? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for your time. Please e-mail or fax your response to Deborah Bonnin at UniForum, debbieb@uniforum.com -or- fax (408) 986-1645. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ Affiliate News --------------- *** UniForum UK Conference and Exhibition UniForum UK will present its open systems and interoperability exhibition and conference, Enterprise IS, Oct. 18-20 at Earls Court 2, London. Philip Flaxton, commercial director of UniForum UK, announced that UniForum affiliate groups may attend the event through study tours being arranged by the event organizers. UniForum UK predicts that Enterprise IS will include more than 100 exhibitors and will be attended by about 10,000. A conference including user demonstrations and case studies will be included. For more information, contact Philip Flaxton, (44) 81 332 0446 (voice) or (44) 81 332 0448 (fax). *** Ohio!UniForum Meetings Ohio!UniForum meetings have been scheduled as follows for July and August. Topics are to be announced and suggestions may be phoned to (216) 886-2018: o Cleveland: July 12 and Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. o Cincinnati: July 19 and Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. o Columbus: July 26 and Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. The following topics are planned for the remainder of the year: o October: Standard Open Operating Systems o November: Open Systems Distributed Computing o December: On-line Transaction Processing. Membership in Ohio!UniForum is available for $20 a year, $15 for an employee of an Ohio!UniForum sponsor, free for UniForum general members, $15 for UniForum associate members. For further information, call (216) 886-2018. A free membership is available by signing up three new local Ohio!UniForum members before Sept. 30. *** Hounix Meetings The July main meeting of Hounix, the UniForum affiliate in Houston, will be held July 19 on the topic of parallel processing. Dinner reservations are due by July 15 at noon, by calling (713) 684-6590. At the May meeting, Uniplex software developer Mark Demers presented his company's groupware and electronic messaging software to more than 40 Hounix members. Groupware, he explained, is a suite of personal productivity software shared by users in a client/server or work group computing environment. Typical modules usually include electronic messaging, calendaring, resource scheduling, document managing and directory services. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ UniForum, SEF Co-sponsor Open Systems SIG ------------------------------------------ UniForum and the Software Entrepreneurs' Forum (SEF) have combined forces to co-sponsor what used to be the SEF UNIX Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG's new name will be the SEF/UniForum Open Systems SIG. Meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month in Palo Alto, CA. The Software Entrepreneurs' Forum, started in 1983, is a leading Silicon Valley-based non-profit organization, with over 900 members, that is dedicated to software professionals, SEF informs and educates its members on all facets of the software industry. The next meeting will feature three Internet activists seeking to capitalize on today's rampant Internet growth and commercialization: Andrew Conru, Internet Media Services, Palo Alto; Matisse Enzer, Internet consultant and educator, San Francisco; and Gary Kremen, Electric Classifieds, San Francisco. These diverse entrepreneurs will tell about their business and technical goals and what they believe the Internet is and isn't as a target for new business. The meeting will be held at Digital Equipment Corp., 130 Lytton St., Palo Alto CA, Tuesday, July 12, 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free for SEF and UniForum members and DEC employees, $10 for non-members and $5 for UniForum trial members. For further information, call George Bosworth, UNIX consultant and SEF representative, (415) 851-3304, goergeb@netcom.com, or Debbie Bonnin, UniForum conference and seminar manager, at (408) 986-8840, ext. 12, debbieb@uniforum.org. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ UniNews Recruitment and Positions Wanted ---------------------------------------- For inclusion in the UniNews Classified Section, please provide the following information, being as specific as possible. If you do not want your name printed, please indicate in item No. 1 and UniNews will receive replies and forward them to you. Please type or write legibly. Your classified may be edited for length or clarity. UniNews "Positions Wanted" classifieds are available FREE OF CHARGE to UniForum members only. Upon receipt of your material, we will publish your classified in the next TWO available issues of the biweekly UniNews. YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF UNIFORUM TO PARTICIPATE 1. Your name Shall we print your name in UniNews? Your UniForum Membership # (if available) 2. Where Hiring Companies May Reach You (include phone, fax and e-mail) 3. Title and Description of the Job You Want 4. Geographical Preference 5. Professional Experience and Qualifications 6. Highest Grade or Degree Achieved, and Where 7. Salary Range $ 8. Availability You may mail or fax this form to: Sandy Parker, UniForum, 2901 Tasman Drive, Suite 205, Santa Clara, CA 95054; (408) 986-1645. GOOD LUCK! *** Sales/Sales Management Seeks position in sales or sales management for channels distribution of hardware or software. Experience: 15 years in sales/marketing with 12 years specializing in channels sales. Personal: B.S. in business administration with postgraduate training in sales, marketing and management; prefer Denver, CO; available to travel; salary $100,000 plus base plus commission; available now. David L. Paul, 11611 Shoshone Way, Westminster, CO 80234; (303) 466-7228. *** System Administrator Seeks consulting position as UNIX system administrator. Experience: 7 years' experience in UNIX system administration, including capacity management and system requirements analysis. Personal: U.S. Army Center for Professional Development in conjunction with the University of Maryland, 198 credits; salary $75/hour. Box M-UniNews, UniForum Association, 2901 Tasman Dr. #205, Santa Clara, CA 95054; fax (408) 986-1645. *** Software Operations Seeks position in software operations. Experience: order management, software production, shipping/receiving, pacing release cycle, customer support; 7 years' experience in operations; well versed in UNIX; developed department from scratch. Personal: B.A. in mathematics, M.B.A., Long Beach State University; salary open; available now. Chuck Niedle, phone (408) 446-9469. *** Vice President/Director of Marketing Seeks position as vice president or director of marketing for a high tech company wishing to extend internationally and possibly use either OEMs or distributors. Experience: 20 years of marketing and product management experience in software and hardware; extensive international experience in the Far East, Europe and Scandinavia. Worked for both start-up and Fortune 100 companies. VP of marketing and international sales for a UNIX development house. Personal: willing to relocate in the U.S., or abroad; salary $85K to $100K; available now. Edward F. Steinfeld, phone (508) 692-8569; fax (508) 692-4899, e-mail efs@world.std.com. *** Software Systems Engineer Seeks position as real-time software systems engineer. Experience: 20+ years in machine control, motion control, manufacturing control and communications systems including laser measurement and imaging systems. Personal: B.S. in mathematics, Florida State University; graduate work in mathematics, physics and electrical engineering; prefer Northern San Francisco Bay Area, Texas or Eastern U.S.; salary $55K to $75K; available in one month. James M Hafling, phone (510) 741-7495 evenings. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ For Cold Summer Nights... -------------------------- Get a UniForum Sweatshirt Phone (800) 255-5620 or (408) 986-8840 for more information End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ UniForum Member Benefits ------------------------- Publications, Conferences, Discounts and More Benefits for General Members ($100 per year): o UniForum Monthly magazine and UniNews biweekly newsletter; Free ads in the "Positions Wanted" section of UniNews; Open Systems Products Directory; All UniForum Technical Guides; Discounts on purchases of additional UniForum publications; Discounts on all UniForum conference registrations; Educational seminars and special classes; Opportunity to participate in local Affiliate activities. o Discounts on Avis car rentals. o Discounts on corporate sponsors' hardware and software: o Specialix Inc. sales, (800) 423-5364, (408) 378-7919 or fax: (408) 378-0786. e-mail: info@specialix.com o Mortice Kern Systems (MKS), 35 King St. North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9. Phone: (519) 884-2251 or (800) 265-2797; fax (519) 884-8861 or e-mail inquiry@mks.com. o Discounts on products, training and publications from the following companies: o Locus Computing Corp., 9800 La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90301-4400. Or call (310) 670-6500. o InterCon Systems, (800) NET2YOU or (800) INTERCON. o Gemini Learning Systems, (403) 263-UNIX or fax (403) 261-4688. o ACI Technology Training, 500 Park Blvd., Suite 1111, Itasca, IL 60143; phone (708) 285-7800 or fax (708) 285-7440. o Open Systems Training, 4400 Computer Drive, Westboro, MA 01580; phone (800) 633-UNIX or fax (508) 898-2382. o Open Systems Alternatives (Steve Kastner), 250 Production Plaza, Cincinnati, OH 45219; (513) 733-4798; fax (513) 733-5194. o ITDC, 4000 Executive Park Drive #310, Cincinnati, OH 45241; (513) 733-4747; fax (513) 733-5194. o Nina Lytton's Open Systems Advisor, (617) 859-0859 or write OSA at 268 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116. o Patricia Seybold Group's Monthly Reports, Don Baillargeon, (617) 742-5200 ext. 17; 148 State St., Boston, MA 02109. o .sh consulting, call (408) 241-8319 or write to 3355 Brookdale Dr., Santa Clara, CA 95051. o Faulkner Information Systems, 114 Cooper Center, 7905 Browning Road, Pennsauken, NJ 08109-4319. o QED Information Sciences Inc., 170 Linden St., P.O. Box 82-181, Wellesley, MA 02181; (800) 343-4848. o Specialized Systems Consultants Inc., P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155-0649; (206) 527-3385; fax: (206) 527-2806. o Client/Server Tool Watch: Enabling Open Applications Development from Hurwitz Consulting Group (Dena Brody), P.O. Box 218, Newton, MA 02159; (617) 965-7691; fax (617) 969-7901. o Client/Server News from G2 Computer Intelligence, P.O. Box 7, Glen Head, NY 11545; (516) 759-7025; fax: (516) 759-7028. o Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Dan O'Gara), One Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867 (800) 238-9682; fax (617) 944-7273. Benefits for associate members ($50 a year) include UniForum Monthly magazine and UniNews newsletter; free ads in the "positions wanted" section of UniNews; discounts on all UniForum conference registrations; the opportunity to participate in affiliate activities; and discounts on the publications and products listed above. Send your correspondence to Susan J. Hoffmann, Membership Services Manager, (408) 986-8840, ext. 26; (800) 255-5620, ext. 26 or via e-mail at sooz@uniforum.org. End Article ------------------------------------------------------------ End UniNews.