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The next Help Desk Calgary event: Date: December 11, 2003 4:00 p.m. Topic: Peer to Peer Location: Brewsters, Eau Claire Market Event Information |
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Membership Benefits Looking for... - a support network - industry news & information - social events - discounts on events, training, and books Join the Help Desk Institute and Help Desk Calgary One Association today and start enjoying the benefits! Click on the link below for further information. Membership Information |
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The holiday season offers a time for reflection on the events of the past year and what the future may hold. A common bond between us, is our involvement in the Computer Support Industry. Many of us have seen challenges this past year and we have all had to do more with fewer resources. My hope is that your involvement with Help Desk Calgary has given you some additional resources to cope with the changes in our industry. The future is uncertain; will we see our jobs change over the next year? Will we be asked to support new programs or a new operating system? The information shared through this chapter will help you meet any challenge you may face.
On behalf of all the Help Desk Calgary Executives, I would like to take this opportunity to wish our members a Happy Holiday Season.
Gil Gingras
President Help Desk Calgary
Holiday Peer to Peer
Meet
& Greet!
Join us for friendship, food and a beverage.
No registration fee.
December 11, 2003
Brewsters, Eau Claire
Starts at 4:00 PM
Register Online By December 5, 2003
NOTE: The invitation for the Peer to Peer incorrectly stated the Barley Mill
as the location. The location is Brewsters at Eau Claire.
Register online
January HDI Calgary speaker: George Spalding
Executive Consultant, Pink Elephant
For
over 25 years George Spalding has been helping individuals on five
continents realize their full potential by simplifying complex topics and
inspiring people to acquire new skills. After his appointment to the faculty
of Yale University in 1972, he spent several years as a consultant to the
White House on technical presentations and White House Conferences. During
that same period, he coordinated technical presentations for members of the
President's cabinet, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Institutes of
Health and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
[MORE]
Does Your Help Desk Support Linux Desktops? By
Wilbur Turner, Director of Marketing & Customer Operations, ICEsoft
Technologies
How
soon will it be until help desk analysts will need to be trained to support
Linux desktops? This may be sooner than you think according to industry
analysts. IBM has plans to introduce a technical support program for Linux
on corporate desktops sometime in 2004. It is also expected that
Hewlett-Packard and Dell will announce similar programs early next year.
Several major players are beefing up their Linux products, expecting to
satisfy the growing appetite for Linux desktops. These include IBM, Sun
Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Novell and Red Hat. Microsoft's rival
Longhorn project is now expected to ship in 2005 which provides some
breathing room for Linux vendors to garner market share.
I invite you to take a few minutes and take a short survey that will help
better understand the local environment with regards to Linux desktop
support requirements and I'll share the results in the next newsletter.
Linux training is currently offered by www.Metafore.ca in Calgary and online
courses are available through www.linux.org/lessons
Let's see what is happening in Calgary! Click on the following link to
complete the online survey:
http://www.hdi-calgary.org/linuxsurvey.htm
Changes to Member Benefits and Luncheon
Registrations
Help
Desk Calgary will be implementing changes to streamline luncheon
registrations and improve membership benefits effective January 1, 2004. Due
to the overhead involved in selling and administration of discounted
luncheon tickets these will no longer be offered for sale. All unused
luncheon tickets will still be honored. As we are a volunteer organization
it is our aim to minimize the amount of time involved in administration and
it has been our experience that looking after luncheon tickets is quite time
consuming. Luncheon attendance may be paid for by cash, cheque or Visa at
the door.
In order to provide more value for your membership we are making two
significant changes. First, each new or renewed membership in 2004 will
entitle the member to three free local chapter luncheons. Passes will be
issued to each qualified member upon confirmation of your new or renewed
membership from Help Desk Institute. This is a $75 value. Secondly, the
price to attend luncheons for non-members will increase to $40 from the
current $30. The member price will remain at $25.
We look forward to your continued support of this worthwhile association. If
you have any questions or concerns about these changes please send an email
to info@hdi-calgary.org. If you would like to purchase a membership you may
do so online at the following link:
Click Here
December 2003
Published by Help Desk Calgary
Editor: Tahni Bean
Email: info@hdi-calgary.org
Help Desk Calgary Website
Visit the Help Desk Calgary website by clicking on the link below:
www.hdi-calgary.org
Join a Committee
Contribute your skills and ideas to help provide value to our membership
through our volunteer opportunities. For more information click on the link
below or write to us at info@hdi-calgary.org.
Executive and Volunteer Information
Help strengthen our help desk and customer support community by sharing ideas, success stories and your help desk or support centre profile through this newsletter. For more information or to submit an article write to info@hdi-calgary.org. Your contributions are appreciated!