General meeting history

2009

JanFebMarApr
MayJunJulyAug
SepOctNovDec

2008

JanFebMarApr
MayJunJulyAug
SepOctNovDec

2007

JanFebMarApr
MayJunJulyAug
SepOctNovDec

2006

JanFebMarApr
MayJunJulyAug
SepOctNovDec

2004

JanFebMarApr
MayJunJulyAug
SepOctNovDec

2003

JanFebMarApr
The QTI Group, a member of Techworks Partners, will be presenting at the January meeting.
The February 12 general meeting will feature some videos from Microsoft, including the Microsoft presentation at the Fall 2002 APCUG Conference in Las Vegas. A video from Microsoft's Mindshare Program has demonstrations of several of Microsoft's new software products.  Come see how the other half lives...  Might even see some replays of Jimmy the Groundhog rolling in the snow trying to get away from those incessant naysayers!  It just keeps getting better!Object Desktop from Stardock Corporation (http://www.stardock.com) is a suite of productivity enhancements that allows people to customize Windows to their particular needs. With it, users can transform Windows into anything they desire. Customize how your buttons look and where they are placed. Organize your programs in a way that works the way you want it to--not the way some programmer thought it should. Create a kid-friendly desktop in which only websites you approve are accessible.  See a presentation on The Why Files, which is a World Wide Web magazine supported by the Graduate School at University of Wisconsin-Madison.   Every week, The Why Files covers a science story inspired by the headlines in a format they call the science behind the news.  Coverage ranges, literally, from anthropology to zoology, including nuclear and biological weapons, artificial intelligence, psychology, meteorology, space science, and more.
MayJunJulyAug
A representative from PARTS NOW! will present what laser printers are all about and how they differ from ink jet printers. He will discuss what can go wrong with a printer and how to choose a printer in the first place.  He will also cover the hidden costs of purchasing and using a printer, namely, the cartridges and other supplies.The Wisconsin state Web portal (http://www.wisconsin.gov) was designed to improve access to government information, programs, and services. The portal allows citizens, visitors, businesses, organizations, and others to quickly and efficiently locate appropriate resources. It also organizes services by subject rather than agency. Subject areas include: agriculture and food production, city and town government. health and medicine, recreation and tourism, and voting and elections.  A representative from the Wisconsin Department of Electronic Government will present how the state portal was created, demonstrate how to easily find needed information, and show how to complete some online transactions.The July 9 general meeting will feature a special presentation on "Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks" by local attorney Charles Kyle Kenyon. In the spirit of "giving forward," he maintains a Word FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) web site at http://www.addbalance.com/word/ . He will give an overview of the FAQ, explain how to use various Word features such as styles, and answer questions from the audience. This will be a great opportunity to find out everything you wanted to know about Microsoft Word but were afraid to ask.The August 13 general meeting will feature a presentation on "Blogs" by Jonathan Broad who teaches a class in the UW-Madison Graduate School that is both about blogs in part, and is run via blogs.  Mr Broad will explore the mechanic of blogging: the types of services and software out there, how to use blogs, blog etiquette, promoting your blog, etc. He will also talk about the history of blogs and their growing significance, both on-line and off-line, to the worlds of society and politics.
SepOctNovDec
The September 10 general meeting topic will be "Linux: What, Why, How." Steve Krause, president of the Madison Linux Users Group (MadLUG), will give an overview of what Linux is (in general, as well as its current status). He will also cover why one might use it (in a home, business, and/or hobbyist setting) and how one might start using it (common and popular applications, where to get Linux distributions, and sources of help and documentation). John Graham from the Madison Macintosh Users Group will be the presenter at the October 8 general meeting. Another member, Dan Luedtke, will also be there with John. The presentation will likely be a history of Apple and the Macintosh, what's happening now, and a look into the future.  We will learn about the Macintosh group and some of their members may be attending, as well.Election and Annual Meeting.A representative from Home Automation Essentials will be talking about:

Whole House Video Distribution

Home Computer Networking

Home Automation (Lights, etc.)

 

2002

JanFebMarApr
A presentation on ZoneAlarm, by one of our own experts, Eric Selje, is now on the agenda. 
GetItBack Software will be demo'd by Clifford T. Haines, President and CEO of CTH Technologies.

 

The House of Rose... The presenter for March 13 is Jane Langdon, who runs the Internet business, House of Rose, from here in Madison.  Utilizing E-Commerce on a very attractive web site, she supplies an extensive line perfumes for men and for women.

The presenter for April 10 is Garth yeazel, our Investment SIG leader. Garth will give us some insights into Online Investments, Brokerages, techniques, philosophies, and maybe even some hot tips!Garth has been involved with MPCUG for years, having managed our software library for quite a few of them, and most recently was elected MPCUG Treasurer.

MayJunJulyAug
Optavia helps youcreate interactive technology that satisfies customer needsand achieves business objectives. Our proven user-centered techniques take the guesswork out of interface design. We provide design evaluation, usability consulting, training, and site development servicesthrough our Optavia Network of usability and accessibility professionals, interface designers, developers, researchers, and project managers. Optavia designs the usable interface that connects you with your customers.

Lance Hagert, from XIOtech®, will be presenting. 

Business success demands focus on productivity, growth, knowledge management, and fiscal performance. Harnessing the power of a perpetually expanding information base is the key to winning the race. XIOtech® meets this challenge by delivering integrated storage solutions that pave the way to the future, providing the widest range of business benefits of any network-based storage solution, while lowering the cost and complexity of enterprise storage.

Bill Kunkler, Executive VP of Fiore Companies will talk about a new urban technology project opening in Madison in mid-2002 called Network222.Gene Barlow from User Group Relations, representing PowerQuest Corporation & AccessData will provide our members a special opportunity this month to learn about a number of hard disk utilities. First, "How To Upgrade & Organize Your Hard Drive", and second, "How To Protect & Secure Your Hard Drive."

The actual presentation will be done by Jim Wargula, but Gene has sent us several copies of his presentation CD to give out and copies of PowerQuest Drive Image and Partition Magic as grand prizes. 

SepOctNovDec
Michael Bryant, Director of Training and Consulting from Sonic Foundry will be speaking demonstrating some of the latest Sonic Foundry goodies in the realm of editing, creating, and manipulating music and video. Their products are fantastic and the demos are always amazing!  Come, look, see! The company presenting is GeoAnalytics, a local IT consulting firm with a presence in Chicago and Florida, that specializes in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Spatial Information Systems. They were in the newspaper recently, August 8, regarding a Web GIS solution they're developing for the city of Chicago for automated fleet tracking.Cascade Asset Management is the local computer recycler in the Madison Metro Area.   Neil Peters-Michaud of Cascade Asset Management will be presenting to us on Wednesday, November 13.  He will show a video documentary about the dumping of e-waste in China, and he'll contrast that with what Cascade Asset Management does to recycle and reuse what could otherwise be our own computer waste.

The November meeting will be the MPCUG's Annual Meeting! We will elect a full slate of officers.

The folks from Midwest Computers, LLC. will talk about what's new on the market, and about the computer business in general, and also about the Mac side of things

2001

JanFebMarApr
We will have a panel discussion talking about Experiences, Techniques, Tips, Tricks, Recommendations,and Cautions relating to Internet Shopping. There will be a live demonstration of some bargain hunting with visits to popular shopping sites. Bring your questions, your insights, your experiences, and your interests!
MGI Software, one of the world's leading digital media companies, will be featuring its award-winning products presented by David B. Whittle, author of "Cyberspace: The Human Dimension" and named by Working Woman magazine as "one of America's most original technological thinkers." Dave will introduce exciting new MGI products and demonstrate the flagship PhotoSuite and VideoWave products.

 

Quicken 2001 from Intuit: Matt McCann has been involved with user groups, since he started the user program at Parsons Technology in 1993. Prior to starting the user program, Matt also had duties in the technical support department and the quality assurance department at Parsons Technology. With his blend of humor, energy and knowledge of the computer industry, Matt is one of the most requested speakers on the user group circuit. Matt travels to over 100 user group meetings a year, currently showing off the great features in Quicken Deluxe from Intuit.

 

Check out personal video recorders, the hard-disk based systems that supplant VCRs. They are commonly used to store multiple simultaneous shows, or to supply realtime delay or pause and "instant replays" while the show is live. These are computer based (either Linux or NT, depending on the brand). We will perhaps have a section on hacking them to expand their capabilities. The names brands on these are TiVo, ReplayTV and Microsoft Ultimate TV. The presenter will be Joel Tynan from American TV West.
MayJunJulyAug
A representative from Home Automation Essentials will be talking about a variety of topics including:
  • Whole House Video Distribution (tying in with last month's meeting - how do I get my TiVo to show on another TV?)
  • Home Computer Networking
  • Home Automation (Lights, etc.)
David Severino will be presenting Microsoft Office XP. He is a Channel Marketing Representative from Downers Grove, IL covering Microsoft's Midwest District. The Midwest District is comprised of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.Our July 11th Meeting will NOT feature Motient, a wireless network. They cancelled due to a "reorganization" that somehow does not allow the planned presenters to do that type of activity any longer. We were gratiously given a little more than two days notice on this cancellation. I'll bet that Motient has great SERVICE on their products, too!Various discussions and local demos...
SepOctNovDec
Was a business meetingCTH Technologies was a NO SHOW, but we had a wonderful presentation by Michael Bryant from Sonic Foundry. He demo'd Sonic Foundry's Vegas, Acid, and Sound Forge, editing, creating, and manipulating both music and video. The products are fantastic and the demos were amazing!The November will be the MPCUG's Annual Meeting! We will elect a full slate of officers.

The meeting topic is planned to be on Home Networking, with a panel of local experts who will be contrasting their experiences, successes and problems. Home Networking is most advantageous for sharing Cable or DSL Modem Internet Connections, Printers, and Disk Drives. Come see the best ways to do it!

The December Meeting will host discussions on Holiday Gifts plus will have hi-lites from Comdex, courtesy of Roger Tesch.

 

2000

JanFebMarApr

Come and see the Quicken 2000 product line!

Quicken Basic, Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Home & Business 2000, Quicken Suite 2000 including the full TurboTax Deluxe and Quicken Family Lawyer 2000.

Jim Wargula, the SysOp of the MPCUG WeBBS, will be doing an on-line presentation, showing the ways that our on-line facilities can be accessed. Find out how to telnet in via the Internet, and quickly access mail and files from anywhere. Find out how to use an HTTP browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape for sending and receiving email, for reading and posting conference messages, and for downloading or uploading files. Learn about the Wildcat! Navigator client, and see how it adds rich features and functionality to the WeBBS system.The March MPCUG meeting will feature Mr. James Stellner, speaking on Lotus Notes. He has been the Notes Administrator at Madison Gas and Electric Company, since Notes was implemented there several years ago, and has just returned from the Lotusphere convention in Orlando. Jim has had years of experience with Notes and has graciously agreed to share some of it with us.Joan Harris, a Wisconsin Educator, will be discuss scanning! Scanning for personal use vs. scanning for commercial use. Topics will include scanning using PhotoShop, resolution, scanning for different purposes, ways to save scanned files, difference between programs and their use and when to use them. (ie: Illustrator, QuarkXpress, Word, etc.)
MayJunJulyAug

Hypercosm is a company providing the technology essential to develop interactive three-dimensional, fast downloading, high quality online content. The company offers a unique and easy-to-use family of content creation and delivery tools, custom development, consulting, and training services.

Using the free content creating software, Hypercosm Studio, you can create your very own interactive three-dimensional content to be used on your websites.

SepOctNovDec

1999

JanFebMarApr
Kirk Schutte demonstrated Sonic Foundry's latest product, Acid. The house was rocking to the sound of surf guitar, as well as Kirk's own compositions.

Member Jim McEvoy showed StarOffice 5.0, a multi-platform (Linux, Mac, Solaris, OS/2, and Windows) Office Suite that is MSOffice compatible at a great price.

Garth Yeazel burned CDs to sell containing all StarOffice platforms for a mere $3 (members) and $5 (non-
members).

Netscape demystified the world of e-commerce, and in the process explained how they're positioned to support the companies that are taking advantage of this brave new world.
MayJunJulyAug
The June presentation was by Jeanne Hannis of SoftBook. It was kind of a different presentation about a piece of hardware they are marketing. You can get info on SoftBook and available libraries by clicking on the graphic at the right (which is a SoftBook). For an independant review, check out A New Chapter for Books By Don Steinberg, PC Computing, on ZDNetAgendum Software is an innovative leader in the development of products for the programming field. We develop ActiveX controls, add-ins and standalone tools for Visual Basic and other programming languages such as Visual C++, Delphi, and PowerBuilder. Our primary focus is in the Visual Basic development language where we currently have over 15 products available and another 6 due for release very soon. Some of our primary clients include companies such as PriceWaterhouse-Coopers, State Farm Insurance, and ATI Technologies as well as hundreds of individual programmers.Bresnan Communications presented Cable Modems and told us about their high speed service, availability, costs, benefits, limitations, etc.!
SepOctNovDec

1998

JanFebMarApr
Microsoft was supposed to present Internet Explorer 4, but canceled due to poor weather. We had an impromptu general Q&A session instead.Local company Sonic Foundry showed their award-winning sound editing software, SoundForge.Novell showed off their newest releases of BorderManager, Netware, Groupwise, Managewise, and NDS.MicroGrafx's "mind-blowing Webtricity 2" sneak-preview tour comes to town, showcasing their Picture Publisher 8, Simply 3D 3, and Windows Draw 6 applications.

Also, MicroHouse showed ImageCast to the Networking SIG.
MayJunJulyAug
John J. Boyer from Computers to Help People in Madison spoke about his organization's mission to use computers to help disabled people to attain their career goals. Very interesting!Corel shows the latest WordPerfect and how well it is integrated with Dragon Naturally Speaking to allow seamless speech recognition.Alps displayed their photo-quality MicroDry printers.

Philips demonstrated FreeSpeech98 continuous speech recognition software.
MPCUG member Rick Klann, a first-class presenter, showed us how he uses computers to polish his presentations.
SepOctNovDec
A spokesman from Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership spoke about all of the implications of the Year2000 problem.Intuit showed the great new functionality of its flagship product, Quicken99.Elections!

Microsoft premiered Office 2000. All attendees received a beta copy of the next generation office suite.

Novell dove into the new features of Netware5 at the Networking SIG.
First ever MPCUG Vendor Fair, with local vendors showed off great computer-related holiday gift ideas.

1997

JanFebMarApr
U.S. Robotics showed the latest in high speed analog modems, with speeds up to 56kb/s and software upgradability.IBM unwrapped the latest incarnation of its object-oriented PC operating system, OS/2Lotus presented SmarSuite 97, combining 1-2-3, Freelance, Approach, WordPro, Organizer, and ScreenCam into a tightly cohesive package.Local company Mijenix demonstrated their innovative Windows utilities, PowerDesk and ZipFolders.
MayJunJulyAug
Borland makes development easier with their newest products: Delphi 3, Visual dBase, IntraBuilder, JBuilder, C++, and InterBase.Utilities maker Cybermedia presented their Windows add-ons, including Oil Change to ensure your software is up-to-date, and First Aid to keep your computer tip-top.Madison's own Persoft demonstrated how to get your company's legacy mainframe data accessible to your PC with their product Persona.Dave Whittle, "one of America's most original technological thinkers," presented 3 products: Partition Magic, DriveCopy, and mgi PhotoSuite.
SepOctNovDec
What is an Internet Service Provider? What aren't they? How do they keep track of all those phone lines? These questions and more were answered by a rep from local ISP FullFeed Communications.Elections!

Rick Borstein from Adobe unveiled their latest photo enhancing software, PhotoShop 4.0.
MPCUG member Roger Bindl compared and contrasted 5 different HTML editors: WebExpress, RTFtoHTML, WinHelp Office, FrontPage97, and HTML Assistant Pro.

1982-1996 meeting information is not currently available.

2005

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