UDON THANI EXPATS CLUB
MINUTES OF MEMBER MEETING
| Meeting number: | MOMM 0017 |
| Location: | Bangkok Hospital Udon |
| Date: | 2013, Sunday, November 24. |
| Subject: | See Agenda (Distributed by e-mail and shown on the website) |
| Participants: | See attendance list (For Administration only) |
| Secretary: | J.J. van Spaandonk |
1. Al Reynolds opened the meeting at 14.00 hours sharp.
2. Administrative issues:
– 26 members attended the meeting.
– 12 members notified that they would not be able to attend the meeting.
– At present, the Club has 54 members of which 6 are pending renewal.
– Quorum is 40% of (54–6) = 19,2 Members.
– The minutes of the October 27, 2013 member meeting have been approved. No corrections.
3. One visitor attended the meeting and introduced him self: Garry Lionheart from USA.
4. New Members and Sponsors;
*One new Sponsor joined the Club.
The “REMEMBER” BARBERSHOP
Please check our website www.udonexpatsclub.com and click the BARBERSHOP to have some more information.
*Two new members joined the Club; Hans Magnussen and Rudi Rohrer. The Club welcomes them with much pleasure.
5. Accountancy:
Hans van Geffen, (Interim) Treasurer:
At present, the Bankbook shows a credit balance of 50,071.08 Baht, the Petty Cash (after mutations at the meeting) +2,642.00 Baht.
In addition, there are 4 club–caps plus 14 club–shirts in stock and for sale.
6. Open Forum and announcements:
* The Annual Club Dinner Buffet is on December 12, 2013 at NAPALAI hotel, starting 18.00 pm.
Tickets, Reservations are mandatory
| Details will be distributed by mail (to those who signed up) and announced at the website. Tickets were sold at the November Member meeting and be available on the December 4,2013 Brunch at the Bookhouse. Member price; for adults 100 Baht, Children up to 12 years of age 50 Baht. The Club will match the difference with the actual costs. |
* In December, there will be no Member Meeting.
* On January 26, 2014 we will have the Annual General Member Meeting.
With, among others;
– The presentation of the Annual Club Report and the Annual Financial Report over 2013.
– The possible Amendments to the Constitution,
– The Nominations and election of the Board and Committee members for 2014. And
– The vision about Club activities for and by the Members over 2014.
* Agenda and attachments for the Annual meeting will be distributed late December or early January.
* At the Club’s website under the menu “Members Only” information and guidelines are posted to;
| – The Yellow House Book – The Usufruct – The Purchase of Goods and Chattels (House, Land etc.). – Cohabitation (Partner contract) – Last Will and Testament – Deed – Living Will – Road map to the hereafter. (Thai translation is in progress).Members who did not received or lost their entrance code may contact the secretary. |
7. First Speaker
Mr. Chod informed that his daily activities are; the upgrade, repair and customer support with various electronic devices such as Mobile phones, Computers, DVD players etc.
He continued to explain the possible negative results, because of the ending by Microsoft of her Operating System, Windows XP, in April 2014.
The main problems could be that; when a system (any system) that is no longer supported, and have no updates, and are working without a proper;
| – Antivirus program, – Firewall, protection to Rootkits or Malware as well as – Rights Managements for e – mails and attachments, |
Your data will be vulnerable to fraud, hacking etc. In addition, your computer may be taken over by third parties and used for illegal activties, without you being aware of it.
What can we do?
| – Upgrade to a newer Operating System (if your computer has the proper specifications) – In general. When you have Celeron inside, you may be able to upgrade. – Buy and install a legal anti virus program – See the UEC’s Enclosure to this minutes, for some guide lines – The best and probably most convenient way is to bring your computer to his shop and he will give you an honest and reasonable advice. |
Club Members who like to visit his shop at Central Plaza may make an appointment via [email protected]
An option, for simple non–professional users, may be, to be decided by the user only, not to do an upgrade, install a legal anti virus program and to continue with your present Operating System. That might still function properly for years to come.
8. Coffee break with social discussions.
9. Second Speaker:
Mr. Siripong Pipatsattayanuwong, CEO of PM International AG (Thailand) CO., LTD, our Club sponsor since October 2013, introduced his company and continued with a slide show about Fit Line.
Fit Line is a food supplement and designed to boost one’s energy. In their presentation, see Attachment, they highlight some interesting developments in our climate, food chain and related health issues.
The quite long time it took for the presentation is not easy to summarize. However, it is certainly very interesting and educating to take some time and study the presentation. See the attachment to this distribution and/or the link from their logo on our website.
Mr. Siripong in formed that out of numerous suppliers only 5% of those including Fit Line manufacture their products in accordance with the branch standard GMP, nnfA.
Detailed specifications will be sending and dispatched later.
A proper address and simple way to order, in cluding pricings, will be published at a later stage.
10. Open Forum
Our Webmaster, Nick, put the attention to the Club’s Forum we now have.
11. The meeting was closed by Al at 16.00 hrs. Last attendees left at 16.45 hrs.
Next meeting, January 26, 2014 will, most likely, be in the conference room on the 4th floor of the Bangkok Hospital Udon.
Please check our website www.udonexpatsclub.com for possible changes and / or further information.
The Secretary of the Udon Expat Club,
November 25, 2013
J.J. van Spaandonk.
Enclosure:
Five operating system alternatives to Windows 8 and XP
November 2013. By: Steven J. Vaughan–Nichols.
On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will stop supporting XP. Most users are not moving to Windows 8. Especially XP users seem reluctant to move to Windows 8,
so what are you going to use for your desktop in 2014?
Here are five suggestions in ranked order. I believe,you should consider them.
1. Windows 7
What? You thought I was going to tell Windows users that their best move would be to anything else but?
Technically, I think Linux is better, but for total cost of ownership (TCO), it is hard to beat Chrome OS.
If you are really wedded to Windows, Windows 7 is your best and most natural move.
I would only urge you to give the others a look, at least! I really do think you may be surprised at how well they might work for your enterprise.
You should keep in mind that in the long run, it appears Microsoft really does want to switch you over to a Metro–style interface as part of the “evolution” of Windows 8. If that idea gives you hives, then now is the time to start looking for alternatives.
2. Chrome OS
Google thinks you do not need a fat–client desktop, any version of Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux editions at all.
Instead, all you need is enough Linux to run a system and the Chrome web browser for all your needs. With Chrome OS, they may be right.
I have been using Chrome OS on older PCs, and chrome–books for almost two years now. I have found that it works really well for most purposes. Better still, Chrome OS will run well on everything from cheap, $250 ARM–powered chrome–books to the fast, beautiful, and pricey, $1,299 Chrome–book Pixel.
Perhaps the best thing about Chrome OS and its chrome–book is that it has no learning curve whatsoever. If you can use a web browser, you can use a chrome–book.
Is it right for you? Sit down and take a long, hard look at what you and your staff actually do all day. If you find — and I think many of you will — that most of their work can be done with software–as–a–service (SaaS) apps such as Google Docs and Gmail, then Chrome OS is your natural choice.
3. The Linux Desktop
What has always been far more secure than Windows, a great deal more stable, and with the right combination of distribution and desktop interface? Moreover, it actually looks and feels a lot like XP. That would be desktop Linux; in particular, Linux Mint with the Cinnamon interfaces.
The downside is that it is more trouble to run Windows applications on Linux. It is not, however, impossible, thanks to a program called Wine and its commercial incarnation, Crossover Linux.
In addition, just like the Mac, there are ways to run Windows virtually on Linux, such as Oracle’s Virtual Box.
Frankly, though, for most office work, I find that LibreOffice and Evolution are better than their Windows counterparts, Microsoft Office and–Outlook.
Don’t believe me? Try it. You can download Mint and use itfree. You may just find that Linux is the operating system for you.
4. Mac
I know, I know, if you are a Windows user you do not want to hear this, but Macs really are fine PC replacements.
You can run many Microsoft office applications on them, such as Office for Mac and Outlook. True, they are not the latest versions, but if you have to have Microsoft applications, they are there. In addition, to virtualization software like Parallels, you can still run your native Windows applications.
The downside, as always, is that Macs are never cheap. They will also require you to learn a new way of doing things.
That said, the learning curve from Windows to the latest version of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion, is not as steep as from, say, XP to Windows 8’s Metro.
5. Android Tablet/Apple iPad
You really can use a tablet for some work purposes, but it works far better if you are primarily an information consumer rather than an information producer.
Therefore, sure, if you are looking up data from a spreadsheet, searching the web, or reading email, they are great. However, if you are putting data into a spreadsheet, creating web pages, or writing long emails or documents, the platform can quickly become annoying.
You can solve those problems using a Bluetooth keyboard and a mouse. However, do you know what you call a tablet with a keyboard and a mouse? I call it a laptop computer, myself.
| I find it very telling that Charlie Sorrel, a true hard–core iPad–for–work user, recently had to throw in the towel because of “Gorilla Arm“. This ailment, which had been known about long before the iPad was a gleam in Steve Jobs’ eyes, happens when you are always bringing your arm up to touch a screen. Even with a keyboard, Sorrel found that after using an iPad day after day for over a year, the result was so painful that he would “sometimes rush through posts just to get them finished“. So, go ahead and support brings your own device for tablets if you like, just do not expect them to replace PCs. They will not. |
Note 1 (By UEC);
Windows XP, support for the Service Pack, (Vista) SP1 stopped 13/4–2010,
SP2 stopped 13/7–2010 and
SP3, Office 2003, will stop 18/4–2014.
Note 2 (By UEC);
Windows 7 runs SP1.
SP2 will not likely to be released.
SP1 stops 13/01–2015. The extended support is expected to stop 14/01–2020.
Note 3 (By UEC);
Without support you will have no updates and are working without a proper; Antivirus program, Firewall, protection to Rootkits or Malware as well as Rights Managements for e–mails and attachments.
Without the essential regular upgrades, your data will be vulnerable to fraud, hacking, etc. and, in addition, your computer may be taken over by third parties and used for illegal activities, without you knowing.
