Eight candidates, including two incumbents, are running for five seats on the UniForum Association Board of Directors. Ballot materials will be mailed in June and the two-year terms will begin in July. UniNews asked each of the nominees to answer four questions. Presented here are the replies from four candidates; the answers of the remaining four-Alan Fedder, Wayne Fowler, Ron Lachman, and Mike Tilson-will appear in the next issue. The nominees answering below are:
1. Describe your work and how you use and/or are affected by open systems on the job.
Azzara: For the last 13 years I've been a journalist in the computer industry. Beginning in 1982 I covered Unix when it first began to emerge in the commercial market, and pretty much stayed with it. I founded Unix Today as editor-in-chief, and engineered its transition to Open Systems Today. When OST merged with Information Week, I was associate publisher.
Since 1988 I was on the Internet via a Unix system run by OST, and more recently I began using Eudora on the Mac, connecting to a Unix server, for e-mail access. Netscape on the Mac is my Web browser. I've been a longtime advocate of open information systems within my parent company, CMP Publications, besides being an advocate in print. I oversaw the development of a prototype publishing system that integrated 14 off-the-shelf software components running on Unix, Windows, and Macintosh platforms. The bottom line is, I built my career in and around Unix and open systems.
Chardon: As director of Digital Equipment Corporation's Office of the President, I manage the development process for our corporate-level strategy. I have additional responsibilities in corporate alliances and corporate management committee structure and process.
Open systems impact my work in three important ways:
Van Fleet: Open systems is my job. As IBM's vice president of AIX systems development, I am responsible not only for delivering IBM's Unix system, AIX, but also for working with others in IBM to ensure that all IBM's offerings are meeting the criteria of openness, a commitment we've documented in the IBM Open Blueprint. I am also IBM's member of the Open Software Foundation Board of Directors. Most importantly, the majority of my time is spent with users, solutions developers, standards organizations, and other open systems vendors ensuring that the promise of open systems-interoperability and portability-is being delivered.
Zalewski: I am a director of product line marketing in Oracle's open systems division. As the name suggests, all of our efforts deal with providing open systems solutions. In particular, I deal with selected system manufacturers and third party software suppliers and look for ways that we can better integrate our product offerings. From the many open systems users with whom I speak, two major concerns that they mention are: "interoperability" and "product integration." In my mind, product integration is the step beyond interoperability. It involves getting the components to have a common look and feel and to be managed as a single integrated system, instead of disparate pieces. This is the area of open systems where I spend the most time.
2. Over the course of the next two years (the full term of office), what areas of the association's activities would occupy your attention the most, and why?
Azzara: I expect to be involved in guiding the annual UniForum conference and other seminars and smaller conferences, as well as providing direction for UniForum's various publications. But besides that, the next months and perhaps years look like they'll be a seminal time of introspection for UniForum, which is either at, or approaching, a crossroads. Will it remain inwardly focused on the Unix industry, and move forward as a Unix systems advocate, or will it broaden its charter to become an association by and for all IS managers struggling with the implementation of open systems IT solutions that cross all platforms and operating systems? This is a discussion I'd like to contribute to on the UniForum board.
Chardon: UniForum has two key competencies that I feel are critical: helping members through education; and influencing open systems vendors and constituencies.
As a forum for education and learning, UniForum can help lead the way in bringing the personal computer and the PC-LAN into the world of open, internetworked systems.
As a vendor-neutral, non-profit influence, UniForum can bring users and vendors together in influencing the evolution of the world's information infrastructures - from the Internet and the National Information Infrastructure in the United States, to Europe's Global Information Society. And as a more immediate matter, one reason that I am running for the board is because I believe that I can help UniForum use its unique position to help the industry better cooperate for the benefit of the open systems end user.
Van Fleet: I am most interested in expanding the reach of UniForum to more end users and other non-Unix IT professionals. To that end, I would like to explore additional channels-such as education, periodicals, conferences, or on-line information-that are used by end users and non-Unix IT professionals and in which UniForum could be a partner.
Zalewski: I would like to focus on providing more Internet/World-Wide Web services and education to our members. This technology is just beginning to take off and many of the possible uses of it have not even been thought of yet. Since many open systems professionals have been Internet users in some fashion-perhaps even just e-mail- already, this is a natural area for us to be of value. The key values that I would like to help UniForum provide would be in making available unbiased, reasonably-priced education. This education would be through not only conferences but through information available in hard copy, and, more importantly, through the Internet itself.
3. There are many areas where UniForum is currently active, from education and training to publishing, to our annual trade show and conference. Where specifically would you have UniForum direct or redirect its efforts and resources and why?
Azzara: UniForum should focus on education and training, via small conferences and seminars (perhaps co-sponsored with local affiliates) and on-line. Developing on-line forums and curriculums should be a major long-term initiative, as well as moving the publications on-line. In the near future there shouldn't be very many UniForum members who can't access publication information on-line. These activities should be in addition to, not instead of, the major annual conference, which I believe is still an important forum.
Chardon: In my opinion, the current mix of activities aligns well with UniForum's core competencies: education and influence. The critical question for the future is not so much "what does UniForum do?" It is "what should UniForum achieve?"
In many senses, open systems as a concept and a goal is part of today's mainstream, of our accepted wisdom. UniForum's challenge is to set the next set of goals that are relevant to an internetworked world made up of systems of all types.
For a number of historical reasons, our membership is most concentrated on the west coast of the United States. We should concentrate on expanding UniForum's influence and membership geographically, both within the United States and around the world.
Van Fleet: I would have UniForum continue to expand its current programs with agenda items that would attract end users and non-Unix IT professionals. In addition, I would have UniForum seek to establish partnerships with other groups that already reach these constituencies.
Zalewski: Having been on the UniForum board for the last two years as vice president of marketing, I have grown to appreciate the value of each of these activities and the synergy each supplies to the other pieces. The UniForum trade show acts as a meeting point for open systems professionals and provides a high quality conference program for education. Our publications also provide educational articles as do our specialized documents that are regularly distributed. Through the connections at the trade show, we are able to get the information to publish and the high-quality speakers for conference and educational programs. The pieces interrelate and allow us to offer our members a tremendous value for a modest annual membership fee. I think we need to continue these efforts. One area on which we have already embarked and I hope we will continue to expand is our electronic information publishing on the Internet. As I have said in answer to the previous question, I believe this is the area where we can provide the highest value.
4. How has UniForum changed over time? In view of those changes, what are the three most significant requirements the association must meet in order to grow and remain useful to its members?
Azzara: UniForum has changed from an association of grassroots Unix users, back in the days when Unix users were simply techies and hackers, to an association of grassroots commercial Unix entrepreneurs, to an organization run by commercial Unix vendors but aiming to serve the needs of grassroots commercial open systems users.
In light of this history, UniForum must complete the transition to an organization wholly devoted to meet needs of open systems users. Because of its history, UniForum is in a unique position to bridge the communication gap between supplier and customer. Second, the organization must maintain its long tradition of being at the forefront, leading technology.
And third, UniForum must continually hone its skills at communicating both the technical details of that leading technology, and the corporate and social ramifications of technology adoption, to its membership and, increasingly, the world at large.
Chardon: UniForum has kept pace with the changing definition of "open," from Unix to open systems to open networks; in parallel, the association has expanded its field of view beyond the technical realm to include the commercial and personal uses of open systems. The three most significant requirements?
The first is to understand the collective interests and needs of the UniForum membership as we move beyond open systems to global internetworks. This understanding must embrace: mobility, both wireless and intermittently connected; personal computing devices of all types; groups as users; and topics as difficult to grasp as social computing. In order for UniForum to navigate today's significant shift to a world of pervasive internetworking, we need to stay close to the membership and make extra efforts to understand and represent their needs.
The second is to develop and provide education and learning that helps UniForum members be successful as this shift occurs. We need to ensure that we maintain our traditional high level of technical depth and competence as we move forward.
The third is to define a list of influence goals that UniForum can pursue to help make the future be what we the members want to see. Specific areas to address include: the relationship between the PC desktop and open systems and networks; and the economics of affordable, sustainable Unix.
Taken together, these three initiatives represent my view of the foundation of UniForum's strategic role as we move into the future.
Van Fleet: UniForum has changed from a Unix-centric association to an enterprise-wide open systems association. The three most significant requirements we must meet are:
Zalewski: UniForum has evolved as the open systems world has grown and changed. At one time open systems was synonymous with the Unix niche dominated by technical applications and very technically savvy users. The Unix prompt, if it was required to have had a warning label like many consumer goods do, probably would have been labeled, "Warning: Don't try these commands in your own home! Unix commands should only be used by trained professionals under controlled environments."
Today, open systems encompasses a wide range of technologies that are used by both computer professionals and other users. The applications span from the Unix heritage of technical applications to mission-critical commercial solutions and involve much more than any operating system. UniForum needs to continue to evolve as this market has changed and as the rate of technological innovation continues to escalate.
As change has escalated, so has the challenge for individual open systems professionals to absorb the new technologies and determine how they integrate with their existing applications. This is a formidable task given the high demands on professionals to meet current day-to-day demands of their jobs. UniForum must focus on its mission of providing education that is unbiased, cost-effective, and easily accessed, and perhaps the most important of all, is time-efficient. So to answer your question more directly, the three most significant things UniForum must provide are: education, education, and education. The media for this will vary like our memberships' needs and will include the Internet, publications, the UniForum trade show, and conferences.
UniForum urges all general members to vote in the board of directors election. Look for ballots with complete biographical information and candidate position statements n the mail in June.