Editorial

Editorial:
Why read this newsletter?

BY HENRY MARCINKOWSKI

11.2003
Issue No.13

As Managing Editor of this newsletter for the past year, I have read all the articles, and am now absolutely sure that I am not a computer expert. I understood some information in the newsletter based on my own experience, and am always interested in learning about applications that I do not know how to use.

Unfailingly, I learn something new in every issue, since each of our reviewers and columnists is, in some way, a computer expert. Many of you, our faithful readers, are computer experts too.

Will reading every word of our newsletter make you a computer expert? Probably not. Can it improve your computer skills? Probably, especially if you use the application or hardware being reviewed.

I guess most of us read the newsletter for the same reason that got us to join Metromac in the first place – to enable us to make the best use of our Macintosh computer. Reading Bill Chachkes’ review of a router may not help all of us, but if you are planning a network, first-hand information on such hardware is very helpful.

When I insisted on a Macintosh in my office at a defense contractor many years ago, our internal Information Technology community fought me tooth and nail. They only spoke IBM. When a company network was set up, support for my Mac was grudging and I had to look to vendors for support.

Then I became aware of a Macintosh User Group [our late, lamented NYMUG], although I didn’t know how to make good use of it. Only after being pushed into retirement was I able to devote time to the user group. That’s when I discovered how little I really knew about my Macintosh by listening to the Q&A and presenters at the general meetings and reading the journal.

What does this have to do with reading this newsletter? Only to remind us that there is no such thing as a free lunch. To get any benefit from such an organization as MetroMac, you must get involved to some extent. The minimum extent of involvement is reading the newsletter and joining in the forums. We became members to help ourselves. When we share our knowledge, we help our fellow members. Reading the newsletter can help us all to some extent. Writing an article or a review for the newsletter can help many of us. Contact us about software that is available for review.

Sharing information on a less formal basis is also helpful. The MetroMac Forum has become a place where we can ask for help with our problems and get information from fellow members. We should also have a place where we can all post some kind of “Hints and Tips” information that will help us by saving time and energy.

There are sources for such information, [hottips-editor@machome.com comes to mind], but I would like to offer another venue, “The “MetroMac Tips Page,” which we would like to publish using your inputs. I know that I have sometimes [well, rarely] found a simple way of doing things that was undocumented [or at least unknown to me]. If you have such tricks up your sleeve, please let us know about them. Send your information to: newsletter@metromac.org and we will publish it. No tip is so trivial that someone has not heard of it. We look forward to hearing from you.

By the way, our Photo Editor, Joanne Haire, is feeling left out. She has no pictures for our photo page. Since I have seen some of you take pictures at the General Meetings, we hope you will send a few to us for use in the newsletter. Same email address as above, and we look forward to your contributions.