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 other four-Mike Azzara, Marc Chardon, Donna Van Fleet, and Steve Zalewski-appeared in the May 10 issue. The nominees answering below are:
1. Describe your work and how you use and/or are affected by open systems on the job.
Fedder: In addition to my position with WAUUG, UniForum's largest affiliate with 1,400 members, I am chairman of the Open Systems World/Fed Unix Conference in Washington, D.C. We use open systems in a very practical way every day, and we also deal with open systems as a concept in our conference and trade show. In a practical way, we have a very open system right here. We have Unix running our bulletin board and our conference registration system. Our art director works on a Macintosh, our office manager uses Windows 3.1, and everybody involved with our newsletter uses various systems-Linux, DOS, Windows, or the X Window System.
In concept, I have to be aware of what issues are facing the open systems world because we have to answer questions and provide solutions within our conferences and our regular monthly meetings and publications.
Fowler: I am responsible for providing highly available, reliable, and responsive systems and networks to the Toronto Stock Exchange. We have been a user of open systems for 10 years with production open systems still in operation that are more than seven years old. The operation of the exchange absolutely depends on the continuous operation of our 250 Unix systems and TCP/IP network each day.
Lachman: I am chairman and founder of Internet Dynamics, Inc., a new company that is creating network server software and network authoring tools. Prior to founding Internet Dynamics, I was president of Lachman Technology, and before that Lachman Associates (which became Interactive Systems). Both Lachman companies were involved in the development of networking software shipped with a majority of Unix systems (two million copies of Streams TCP and joint developer of System V NFS software to OEM vendors of Unix systems). Lachman and Interactive contributed to the creation of more than 30 Unix implementations for vendors, including AT&T/Novell, IBM, Sun, Intel, and SCO.
My professional career has been, and continues to be devoted to the creation and promotion of open systems. Initially, this was a Unix-oriented consultancy that contributed to many of the popular implementations. Over the past decade, my emphasis has changed from Unix to networking technology and applications, TCP/IP and improved strategies for combining the capabilities of networking with information storage.
Tilson: I have responsibility for the service businesses (customer support, education, professional services) at The Santa Cruz Operation. SCO is the largest supplier of Unix-based server operating systems and virtually all of our products are based on open technologies. The prosperity of our business is dependent on the health and vitality of the open systems community.
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?
Fedder: Having served on the board of directors for the past two years as an ex-officio, I realize that a director can't just pick one special area of interest. It's a small board and you have to do everything and be interested in everything. But there are several things that I am most involved in:
First, I'm interested in preserving, expanding, and improving UniForum's affiliate program. Many U.S. cities have no Unix groups. In fact, on the East Coast of the United States, we have only two groups affiliated with UniForum-UniGroup of New York and WAUUG in Washington, D.C.-and we've got a third of the country's population living on the East Coast. We need possibly another 15 to 20 U.S. affiliates. Many countries around the world have Unix groups that are not affiliated with UniForum. We have to reach out to them. And in many countries of the world, a national organization alone isn't enough. For example, Canada needs a strong national organization and another eight or 10 chapters in its major cities.
Second, I'm dedicated to preserving UniForum as the voice for Unix and open systems. I don't want us to lose our Unix focus. That core is important-it's important to our members and to our ability to stay alive as a viable organization.
Third, I want to expand and improve our educational offerings. We're now doing our UniForum training seminars in the San Francisco Bay area and we're planning on doing it in November in Dallas. I'd like to see more of that. How about UniForum training seminars at Unix Expo?
Fourth, we need to get our organization on a more solid financial footing. Some things are being done about that now. Except for the trade show, everything else is a losing proposition. That has to change.
Fowler: UniForum must become more customer/user oriented and a better representative of those who use and support open systems. I support the efforts of MOSES in working with UniForum to present a more balanced customer/supplier view of open systems. I believe that UniForum is best positioned to take the next step of acting as a focal point for determining what open systems customer needs are most important.
I intend to spend my term acting as a voice for open systems customers and establishing more initiatives such as the MOSES partnership with broader representation and input from small to mid-sized open systems customers.
Lachman: I believe that the UniForum Association's strategy-and as a subset of that, the continuing position of the association's trade shows-would occupy my attention the most. Our strategy needs to concentrate on creating value for our membership and trade show attendees. The UniForum show is the most visible centerpiece of the organization, and we need to keep the best of its breed and expand it to meet our membership's needs.
I believe that I was selected by the nominating committee to run for this board position in part because of my strategic planning skills that come from my executive experience. My commitment to open systems (as well as my historical association with the UniForum Association) certainly is helpful, but I believe that the primary reason I have been asked by the selection committee to run is to contribute to our organization's strategy.
Tilson: I would focus on facilitating the change process.The association must engage in new technology and market areas. Open systems means a community of shared development. The kind of non-monopoly development that made Unix successful needs to prosper in other areas, and these areas can, in turn, benefit from the experience of our community. The engagement in new areas must happen in a way that is true to our core values. How to manage this change must be a primary focus of the board.
3. There are many areas where UniForum is currently active, from education, training, and publishing, to our annual trade show and conference. Where, specifically, would you have UniForum direct or redirect its efforts and resources, and why?
Fedder: I think this organization must remember that UniForum was founded as a Unix group. It became instrumental in the creation of a vibrant marketplace for Unix-based, standards-based products of all sorts. We can't be everything for everybody. We don't have the resources to do that, that is not what our charter calls for. Supporting all computer users, regardless of environment-open or proprietary-might be a great idea for another organization, but we can't forget that the "Uni" in UniForum stands for Unix. I think if we forget that and try to broaden our scope unreasonably, we will lose our core and we won't succeed in replacing those members.
Fowler: As I indicated, UniForum needs a broader base of open systems customer representation and input. I also believe that it is essential that we maintain our open systems focus in our education, conference, and publications. While I understand that there are very few open systems-only shops, I believe that open systems are the glue that allow the diverse components of many IS shops to operate. Therefore, I believe that our efforts should be open systems-centric and that we should work to maintain our identity as the leader in the open systems world. To me, that means that we keep doing what we are doing and keep doing it well.
Lachman: UniForum started as an industry organization with a primary goal of promoting commercial acceptance of the Unix operating system. It is evolving from an industry trade association to a professional association, with subject emphasis shifting from Unix to heterogeneous/open systems.
Real companies need to network Unix to Microsoft to Macintoshes to databases to the Internet and to their customers. We need to help our membership do all these things and more. Our association's activities (conference, publication, training, etc.) should be directed to meet these needs.
As a collective of open systems professionals we need to redirect ourselves to become the voice for open systems users to speak to the industry, as opposed to merely providing a venue where we listen to the Industry. X/Open and various industry players need to get feedback from individual users. Through properly designed surveys, and by creating Industry/user meetings or electronic forums, we could influence and accelerate standards that fill our membership's needs.
Tilson: We need a strong annual conference and industry event in order to provide the one place where the community can gather. The event also provides revenue to fund other services. I believe we should expand our educational, tutorial, and conference activities both in scope and in geography. Finally, our educational role needs to have a greater sense of advocacy and community building. UniForum started with a mission to change the computing world, and that world did indeed change. We need more of that today.
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?
Fedder: I think we've got to remain focused on our core-Unix and open systems. I think we need to explore the rest of the universe, but we need to do that without losing our perspective. That perspective should be that of Unix people. We can't forget that we are succeeding beyond the wildest dreams of /usr/group's founders. We've grown. Our trade show is a success. We have more money in the bank than the founders ever envisioned. The Unix marketplace is bigger than they ever envisioned. The figures that I see from International Data Corp. and from Gartner, contrary to the figures that Microsoft puts out, say that the Unix marketplace will be growing at a much faster rate than the Windows NT marketplace, and that we have four to five times the sales of Unix systems than they have for NT. And even in four or five years, we will still have two to three times more sales of our operating system than they will have of theirs.
I have heard many times that we can stop now because we're now mainstream-that we're done with the battle. But that never stopped other organizations from going on. Being mainstream was not the goal and being mainstream is not the reason to stop. We still have the battle, we still have people to educate and train. And with the Unix marketplace growing the way it is, there are hundreds of thousands of people that need our educational offerings, training, trade shows, publications, and help. The Unix world has never been simple, so we need to be strong now more than ever. If we succeed in reaching just the massive number of Unix users, we won't have the resources to do any more.
Fowler: UniForum has successfully evolved from an organization conveying the message that UNIX and open systems were a viable choice for information systems into the recognized spokesgroup for those open systems, which are now the mainstream IS systems choice. I believe that the challenge we face in the next few years is to maintain our distinct role as the open systems spokesgroup, almost in spite of our success and the pressures to become another generic industry body sponsoring a large trade show. Therefore, I believe that UniForum must maintain its unique open systems identity in the coming years. We must expand our membership to include more end user/customer employees and corporate sponsors. And we must continue to expand our visibility by sponsoring smaller meetings such as the MOSES efforts and providing more input into the industry in the form of high-level customer requirements.
Lachman: See my answer to the previous question regarding UniForum changing over time.
First, we must continue building greater value propositions to our membership of professionals, who are primarily concerned with solving real problems with in today's environment of heterogeneous computing.
Second, we must expand our shows and seminars in geography and scope. There should be more events in more places and they should target education and products with multivendor environments and networked solutions that most companies need.
Third, open systems professionals need an open systems community. Although UniForum is on the Internet in a number of ways, and provides "open systems community" publications, we need to significantly improve on this. We need more face-to-face open systems community support through improved local affiliate programs and better electronic community efforts, such as forums, chat servers, and electronic Q&A.
Tilson: The association has grown and matured as open systems has matured and prospered, but only now are we seeing more fundamental changes. Our top three requirements should be:
First, remain true to the open systems concept, meaning a community of shared development-competitive multiple development streams within a shared technology framework where no monopoly controls the destiny of the base platform and architecture.
Second, expand our mission to include existing open technologies including the Internet and the World-Wide Web.
Third, find a few key areas of unmet needs where the open systems approach could have a high payoff, and facilitate the creation of a prosperous community of development. An example might be the area of secure electronic commerce, where it would seem essential that competitive innovation occur within a shared framework, and where the framework is not dominated or manipulated for the benefit of only one party. UniForum urges all general members to vote in the board of directors election. Look for ballots with complete biographical information and candidate position statements in the mail in June.