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UNIGROUP OF NEW YORK MAY 1996 ANNOUNCEMENTS
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1.      UNIGROUP'S MAY '96 GENERAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
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      When:  Thursday, May 16th, 1996

     Where:  Chemical Bank
             55 Water Street (enter at Old Slip)
             South Tower, 13th Floor Conference Room (follow the signs)

      Time:  6:00 PM - 6:30 PM  Registration
             6:45 PM - 9:30 PM  Main Presentation:

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     Topic:  JAVA - A New Programming Environment for the World Wide Web
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   Speaker:  Charles Francois of Sun Microsystems


Main Presentation:
------------------

  Our next meeting presentation will be devoted to JAVA, Sun Microsystem's
  new programming language and environment.  JAVA consists of a full featured
  object-oriented language; a browser, HotJava; and some development tools.
  It is a contender to become the development tool of choice for Web-oriented
  applications, and potentially for many other applications as well,
  particularly ones where platform independence is a major consideration.
  Sun and Netscape have also announced JavaScript, an associated, simplified
  scripting language.

  In Java, application code is pre-compiled to an intermediate form called
  byte code.  At run time, the bytecode is interpreted, linked with library
  classes, and executed.  Java is designed to be portable and easily
  distributed over a network.  The fact that Java applets never see the host
  environment -- just the Java Virtual Machine that runs on the host -- has
  important implications for both portability and security.

  As Dan Kara said in a recent issue of "Application Development Trends",
  JAVA has the potential of bringing real utility to the Web once the initial
  infatuation with "surfing the net" wears off.  As we all have learned,
  there are no free lunches in Oz or computer land, and performance,
  bandwidth, and security issues have been raised already.  Even so, anyone
  who is seriously involved in Application Development needs to know more
  about JAVA -- it promises to be an important part of the technical scene
  for the next few years.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  What is Java?  Here are a few quotes from the source:

  Sun's Java Web Page  states that:

     "Java is a simple, robust, object-oriented, platform-independent
      multi-threaded, dynamic general-purpose programming environment.
      It's best for creating applets and applications for the Internet,
      intranets and any other complex, distributed network."

  The "Java Series Press Release" at Addison Wesley
   states:

     "Java, the result of several years of research and development at
      Sun Microsystems, is the first language to provide a comprehensive
      solution to the challenge of programming for the Internet, providing
      portability, security, advanced networking, and robustness without
      compromising performance."

  For the programmer's viewpoint, the Preface of "The Java Virtual Machine"
   provides the following description:

     "Java is a general-purpose object-oriented programming language.
      Its syntax is similar to that of C and C++, but omits semantic
      features that make C and C++ complex, confusing, and insecure."

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Charles Francois' bio:

  For the past six years, Charles B. Francois has been a systems engineer
  in the Wall Street offices of Sun Microsystems Inc.  As a pre-sales
  consultant, he has been focusing on software development in the
  financial sector with a special attention to Object-Oriented
  methodologies and frameworks.  Prior to joining Sun, Charles was a
  senior systems architect and Unix administrator at Merrill Lynch where
  he helped deliver a distributed bond trading system.  He holds a
  Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Yale University.

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Directions:     55 Water Street is between Water Street & Front Streets
                at Old Slip...  about 7 blocks south of Fulton St. and
                the South Street Seaport.
                Take 4 train to Bowling Green & Walk Due East;
                Take 2/3 trains to Wall Street, Walk East to Water St.
                        then walk South 5 blocks;
                Take M/J trains to Broad St., Walk East to Water St.;
                Take N/R trains to Whitehall St., Walk North East to Water St.
                There is parking on the street and there is a lot right
                        in the building, entrance on Old Slip.

                Room Location Specifics:
                   Enter the building at Old Slip.  To get to the South
                   Tower of the complex, you enter the building at Old
                   Slip at the "North Tower" doors.  This entrance is
                   is immediately to the right of the main entrance,
                   towards Water Street.  Go past the guard's desk
                   (mentioning you are heading for Unigroup) to the
                   elevator bank and go to the 13th floor.
                   When you get to the 13th floor, follow the signs leading
                   you to the meeting room.

                   The signs will lead you from the elevator, through a set
                   of doors, then past the cafeteria.  If the entrance
                   doors near the elevator on the 13th floor are locked
                   (may happen after 6pm), call the security desk using the
                   available telephone, and they will radio the guard on
                   the 13th floor to let you in.  After the cafeteria, you
                   see another "lobby" area.  Walk past the cash machines,
                   make a left and look for a sign marking the meeting room.

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        Fee Schedule:
                Yearly Membership:                              $ 50.00
                Single Meeting:                                 $ 20.00
                Student Yearly Membership:                      $ 20.00
                Student Single Meeting:                         $  5.00
        ==>     UniForum/Unigroup Joint Yearly Membership       $125.00
                Cash, Check, American Express.

        ==>     Unigroup is the Greater NYC Regional Area Affiliate
                of UniForum - an International Unix Users Group.
                Our Joint Membership Program gives you FULL membership
                in both organizations for a discounted price.

        -----

        Please mark this meeting on your calendar and join us!
        Please tell your friends about Unigroup!

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2.      PC EXPO IN NEW YORK
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PC Expo '96 will be in New York City at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
on June 18th through 20th.  Unigroup is currently trying to obtain
complimentary exhibit passes for this show to hand out at our May'96 meeting.

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3.      UNIGROUP INFORMATION
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Unigroup is one of the oldest and largest Unix User's Groups serving the
Greater New York City Regional Area since the early 1980s.  Unigroup is
not-for-profit, vendor-neutral and member funded.  Unigroup holds regular
and special event meetings throughout the year on technical topics relating
to Unix and the Unix User Community.   Unigroup is also the Greater NYC
Regional Area Affiliate of UniForum - an International Unix Users Group.

Thanks to Chemical Bank, Unigroup holds regular meetings planned for
the Third THURSDAY of Odd Months at Chemical Bank, 55 Water Street, NYC.
Planned meeting dates are: 5/16, 7/25 (4th Thurs), 9/19, 11/21...
Watch for our Special Event meetings at the various trade shows in NYC.

=========================================================================
=                                                                       =
= For Unigroup Information, Events and Meeting Announcements be sure to =
= visit our World Wide Web Home Page:                                   =
=                                                                       =
=       http://www.unigroup.org/unigroup                                =
=                                                                       =
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To renew your dues, pay your yearly membership or for general information,
 contact Unigroup of NY by USmail:
        Unigroup of New York, Inc., G.P.O. Box 1931, New York, NY 10116-1931

For further information or to get on the Unigroup Electronic Mail Mailing List
 send an EMail message to:
        unilist@unigroup.org  or  uunet!unigroup.org!unilist

To contact the Board of Directors of Unigroup, send an EMail message to:
        uniboard@unigroup.org

To contact the Newsletter Editor, send an EMail message to:
        editor@unigroup.org

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4.      FUTURE MEETING TOPICS
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Unigroup is currently working on filling our 1996 meeting schedule.
We currently have the following topics in mind:

        - JAVA
        - Linux
        - Domain Name System (DNS)
        - High Speed Networking
        - Internet Servers
        - Privacy and Encryption (including PGP)
        - Multimedia Enhanced EMail - MIME/Metamail
        - Publically Available Unix Tools
        - Unix Administration Tools: crash & fsdb
        - Kerberos
        - Object Oriented Databases
        - Fault Tolerant Unix

PLEASE let us know immediately if you:

        - Can give us a presentation on one of these topics
        - Know of a speaker for one of the these topics
        - Have another topic you think we should address
        - Can help us plan one or more meetings - be a meeting coordinator.

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5.      NEWSLETTER
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Unigroup's printed newsletter is sent out to people on our U.S. Mail mailing
list.  The newsletter contains information such as meeting announcements,
technical and non-technical articles and recent UNIX security advisories.
Ross Ziskind is the editor of the Unigroup newsletter.  Keep an eye out for
the next issue.

To keep the newsletter going, the two biggest problems to overcome are:
        a) Volunteers to see that it gets out
        b) Content material

If you have any ideas or can help contribute to our newsletter, please make
them known at our meetings and/or let us know by EMail.  If you know anyone
who has experience in sending out a newsletter, we can always use some good
advice.  Ross can be reached via email to editor@unigroup.org.

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I hope to see you all at Unigroup's May 1996 meeting...

-Rob Weiner
 Unigroup Executive Director
 unilist@unigroup.org

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