Newsletter - August 1997
Serving the community of IBM Midrange users.
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President's Message from Jack FugielI hope you are enjoying the summer and taking a little time to relax. There is no meeting this month, however we are still producing a news letter and the September meeting is so important, I wanted to make sure you were making plans to be there. It is the Y2000 presentation. We know everybody, especially technology people hold this problem dear to their hearts. I'm sure many of you wish you never heard of it while others possibly are upgrading software that you never thought you could get approved and yet others are enjoying a demand for their services they have never seen before. Y2000 has something for everyone and I'm sure if not already tired of hearing about it you could be by 1999. Is the problem really as large as projected, 400 billion dollars world wide, or is it a lot of hype? No one may really know at this point, although I would think we are getting closer to the answer, certainly in 850+ days we will know. We can probably be sure of one thing, attorneys are hard at work, researching the law and getting ready to represent the stockholders and customers of those companies that don't take the initiative to determine and correct any problems. We will certainly hear many stories of loss of business and profits, resulting in a change in senior management and the board room as the year 2000 arrives. It could have far reaching effects on the economy, the stock market or, possibly very little effect, if it is being blown out of proportion. To get the real scoop on the problem put September 16th on your calendar. Our speaker will be not only talking about the program concerns, he will also explore the concerns with elevators, security systems, postage meters, etc. Many of the things that could be affected by the year 2000. We certainly will hear a lot more about it in the papers, that will probably be the bad news, and will possibly hear some good news as well about what we can expect and what we have to do. In any case this is your chance to hear from the experts, so bring your questions, your coworkers and yourself and enjoy an evening packed with new information on the year 2000. As mentioned in last month's message this will be our first meeting with our new format. We will be starting with a light buffet to be served from 6:00 to 7:00 to enable everyone plenty of time to arrive, relax, socialize with other members and still enjoy the evening speaker. We still need reservations so there will be enough food for all, so give Peter a call. His phone number is listed below and we look forward to seeing you in September. Jack
August MEETING"Sophisticated Summer Vacations"featuring WAM Traveler
September MEETING"The Day The Earth Stands Still = Jan 1 of The Year 2000"featuring Jack M. Moore and Ron White Keane Federal Systems, Inc. is the leading company involved in Year 2000 development with over 400 employees in the DC area working on more than 300 projects. Mr. Moore, Keane's Director of Business Development will relate their real world experience working with many of the Fortune 1000 and government agencies such as the Departments of Justice, Defense, Commerce, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Treasury, Transportation and State and the intelligence community. Jack, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Naval Postgraduate School served as an infantry officer and data processing officer in the Marines. Before his two years with Keane, he worked for NCR, Datapoint, Altos Computer Systems, Harris Corp., BETAC Corp, CASDE Corp, and Verdix Corp. Ron, is currently the Y2K manager for GEICO. He will Share with us some real world information such as what to look for "under the covers" and beyond the data base. Tuesday September 16, 1997 18:00 Holiday Inn U S Route 1 College Park, MD (Parking is FREE !) Board Meeting Immediately After !
19:10 - 20:10 = Speaker's Presentation 20:10 - 20:30 = General Business / Announcements 20:30 ====== Adjournment RSVP (by Friday 9/12) to Peter 703/834-3706 or 1stplace@crosslink.net $25.00/member $30.00/non-member
WAM MembershipTo join send your Name, Company, Address, Phone, Fax, E-mail with $100.00 annual dues to our Treasurer:
Systems Management Associates 12023 Blackberry Terrace North Potomac, Md 20878. Home Page AddressYou can now reach us on the Internet ! Our home page is located at http://www.wash-midrange.org. Please feel free to send any suggestions to Peter.
Newsletter DeadlinesPlease bring copy with you to the monthly dinner meeting for inclusion in the newsletter. First choice is WP5.1, but hard copy, Word, or other format is welcome. If unable to attend e-mail on meeting day to Tom.
NEWSWire/400, a weekly e-mail newsletter from the NEWS/400 Newswatch staff, delivers the latest news right to your monitor. Every Wednesday afternoon, we deliver NEWSWire/400 * FREE OF CHARGE * ! For new subscriptions, call 800/621-1544, fax 970/663-3285, or fill out the subscription form in the Newswatch Weekly section of NEWS/400's Web site http://www.news400.com/nww/wire-sub.htm
Upcoming EventsAugust through December 1997
Tip Sheet From NEWS 3X/400These Tips and techniques are provided courtesy of NEWS/400 magazine. For subscription information, call 800/621-1544.Qualify Those Program Names OS/400 commands and interprogram communications make it easy to run or call programs without qualifying the program name with the library name. This means someone can sneak into your system by placing an identically named program in a library higher on the library list than the one in which your program resides. For example, if a calling program doesn't qualify a call to program PGMA, and a hacker's PGMA is in a library higher on the library list than your PGMA's library, the calling program's call to what you think is your PGMA may call the hacker's PGMA instead. Once called, the hacker's program can perform any tasks the current user of the calling program has authority to do. And think about the additional security exposure if the hacker's program adopts authority (acquiring all the authorities of the calling program's owner)! The cure: Make sure no one can insert programs in libraries ahead of yours (e.g., secure libraries so you control who adds objects to those libraries and secure commands that might let users alter their library lists), or qualify your program calls. -- Wayne Madden, Publisher NEWS/400
This Space Intentionally Left Blank ! For Assistance, Call Your Supervisor.
Treasurer's Message1998 Membership Dues ChangesAs you all read in last month's newsletter, the membership dues structure has been changed effective January 1, 1998. The annual dues will now be $100 and this amount will include the cost of attending the monthly meetings throughout the year. You no longer need to pay an additional $25 to attend each meeting. The feedback we have received from members has been very positive and we hope it enhances member participation. With the changes we are making we expect considerable growth in membership as well as attendance at the meetings which in turn will enable us to get even better speakers at the meetings. The Board expects all current members to renew their membership for 1998. However, we are giving an added incentive to the current members to renew early. Since the members will not have to pay to attend meetings in 1998, once you renew your membership, you will not need to pay to attend even the remaining meetings in 1997. There are still 3 remaining meetings in 1997. So this incentive may be worth as much as $75 to you. This offer is available only to current members. To make the best use of this incentive, please renew your 1998 membership as soon as possible by sending in your check for $100 at the earliest. The checks made out to WAM may be sent to:
c/o Systems Management Associates, Inc. 12023 Blackberry Terrace North Potomac, MD 20878 |
Latest Update - August 1997