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UNIGROUP OF NEW YORK - UNIX USERS GROUP - FEBRUARY 2005 ANNOUNCEMENTS
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1. UNIGROUP'S FEBRUARY 2005 GENERAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
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      When:  THURSDAY, February 17th, 2005    (3rd Thursday)

     Where:  Alliance for Downtown NY Conference Facility
             Downtown Center
             104 Washington Street
             South West Corner of Wall Street Area
             Downtown, New York City
             ** Please RSVP (not mandatory) **

      Time:  6:15 PM - 6:25 PM  Registration
             6:25 PM - 6:45 PM  Ask the Wizard, Questions,
                                Answers and Current Events
             6:45 PM - 7:00 PM  Unigroup Business and Announcements
             7:00 PM - 9:30 PM  Main Presentation

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     Topic:  ZOPE - An Open Source Web Development Framework
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  Speakers:  Rob Page, CEO and President,
             Zope Corporation  


   INTRODUCTIONS:
   --------------

   Please keep an eye out for a series of _MONTHLY_ meetings which
   we have confirmed for February, March and April 2005.
   The meeting schedule is posted below (all on the 3rd Thursday).

   We are finally holding our meeting on Web Development and Zope!
   This meeting was supposed to be a followup our meeting on Python
   (March 2003), but it wound up being delayed for various reasons
   and due to various events (including things like the Solaris 10
   launch).  During this time, our friends at Zope Corporation have
   been patient, and they have been waiting for the chance to present
   Zope to Unigroup.  We do appreciate their support!

   I've called Zope a "Web Development Framework", but from what
   I've read, it may be much more than this (see below).  Major
   corporations are using Zope to build web sites and bring content
   to market.  One such example is Computer Associates... see their
   press release about CA and Zope Corp:
     http://www3.ca.com/Press/PressRelease.asp?CID=59297

   Also note that we expect to have CA present to Unigroup, later in
   the year, and they were also invited to participate in this
   week's Zope meeting.

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   SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
   ---------------------

   To REGISTER for this event, please RSVP by using the Unigroup
   Registration Page:
         http://www.unigroup.org/unigroup-rsvp.html
   This will allow us to automate the registration process.
   (Registration will also add you to our mailing list.)

   Please continue to check the Unigroup web site and meeting page,
   for any last minute updates concerning this meeting.  If you
   registered for this meeting, please check your email for any
   last minute announcements as the meeting approaches.

   Please try to RSVP as soon as possible.

   Note: RSVP is not mandatory for this location, but it does help
         us to properly plan the meeting (food, drinks, handouts,
         seating, etc.).

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   OUTLINE OF THE MAIN PRESENTATION:
   ---------------------------------

   This month's meeting will be a presentation on ZOPE:
   - What is Zope?
   - Who uses the platform?
   - What is possible with the platform?
   - The Zope Community and Activities (e.g., Sprints)
   - Platform Futures


   The Zope Software System:
   -------------------------
   (Extracted from http://www.zope.com/Corporate/CompanyProfile.html)

   Zope is a unique software system: a high-performance application
   server, a web server, and a content management system.  It is a
   complete, self-contained solution, that includes a robust,
   scalable object database, web services architecture, and powerful
   programming capabilities.  It is designed for customization and
   extensibility.  Its components integrate tightly with a wide range
   of leading web server and database systems.  Zope promotes rapid
   creation and deployment of complex applications, totally
   manageable through a web interface.  All of this, and complete
   open source access, are provided without cost.  There are no
   licensing or runtime fees for the software.

   What Is Zope?
   -------------
   (Extracted from http://www.zope.org/WhatIsZope)

   Zope is an open source web application server primarily written in
   the Python programming language.  It features a transactional
   object database which can store not only content and custom data,
   but also dynamic HTML templates, scripts, a search engine, and
   relational database (RDBMS) connections and code.  It features a
   strong through-the-web development model, allowing you to update
   your web site from anywhere in the world. To allow for this, Zope
   also features a tightly integrated security model.  Built around
   the concept of "safe delegation of control",  Zope's security
   architecture also allows you to turn control over parts of a web
   site to other organizations or individuals.  The transactional
   model applies not only to Zope's object database, but to many
   relational database connectors as well, allowing for strong data
   integrity.  This transaction model happens automatically, ensuring
   that all data is successfully stored in connected data sources by
   the time a response is returned to a web browser or other client.

   There are numerous products (plug-in Zope components) available
   for download to extend the basic set of site building tools.
   These products include new content objects; relational database
   and other external data source connectors; advanced content
   management tools; and full applications for e-commerce, content
   and document management, or bug and issue tracking.  Zope includes
   its own HTTP, FTP, WebDAV, and XML-RPC serving capabilities, but
   can also be used with the Apache or other web servers.

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   Web Resources:
   --------------

   Zope Corporation
     http://www.zope.com

   Zope Open Source Community
     http://www.zope.com/Services/Community.html

   Zope Community
     http://www.zope.org

   Zope Developer Community
     http://dev.zope.org

   Zope Powered Sites
     http://www.zope.org/Resources/ZopePowered

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   Speaker Biography:
   ------------------

   (Extracted from http://www.zope.com/Corporate/Management/Page.html)

   Rob Page, Chief Executive Officer & President, Zope Corporation:

   Rob Page provides leadership and vision, directing corporate
   operations, professional services, product development and sales.
   He is involved in all aspects of company strategy, client services
   and quality assurance.  Prior to co-founding Zope Corporation in
   1995, he co-founded Connecting Minds, a consultancy firm.  He also
   served for nine years in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve
   as a data systems officer.  Rob earned his B.S. in Aerospace
   Engineering from the University of Florida.

   Company Biography:
   ------------------

   (Extracted from http://www.zope.com/Corporate/CompanyProfile.html)

   Zope Corporation uses Zope Software to create high-end custom
   solutions with unparalleled time to market.  The company
   generates revenue by offering Zope-based products, content
   management solutions through consulting services, support and
   training.  Building on the open source model, customers are freed
   of vendor dependence because they have the source code of their
   product / custom solution.

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   Giveaways:
   ----------

   O'Reilly has been kind enough to provide us with some of their
   books, which we will continue to raffle off as giveaways at our
   meetings.

   Addison-Wesley Professional/Prentice Hall PTR has been kind
   enough to provide us with some of their books, which we will
   continue to raffle off as giveaways at our meetings.

   Unigroup would like to thank both companies for the support
   provided by their User Group programs.

   Note: The chances tend to be about 1 in 5, that any attendee of
   our meeting will walk away with a fairly valuable giveaway
   (ie. most books are valued between $30 and $60)!

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   Fee Schedule:
       Yearly Membership (includes all meetings):      $ 50.00
       Non-Member Single Meeting:                      $ 20.00
       Student Yearly Membership:                      $ 20.00
       Non-Member Student Single Meeting (with ID):    $  5.00
       Payment Methods: Cash, Check, American Express.

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   Complimentary Food and Refreshments will be served.  This includes
   sandwiches such as Turkey, Chicken, Tuna and Grilled Vegetables,
   as well as Assorted Salads (Cole Slaw, Potato, Tossed, Caesar,
   Pasta), Cookies/Brownies, Bottled Water and Assorted Beverages.

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   Directions:

     Alliance for Downtown NY Conference Facility
     Downtown Center
     104 Washington Street
     Wall Street Area
     Downtown, New York City

   This building is located on the West side of the street, the
   second building north of Rector Street.  Cross Streets:
   Between Rector (South) and Carlisle (North) Streets.
   Enter the lobby, and tell the guard at the desk that you are
   heading for Unigroup.  You will be directed to the meeting room.

   Our meeting location is in the Lower West Corner of Downtown,
   North of the Battery Tunnel, South of the Downtown Hotel,
   East of West Street, and West of Greenwich Street.  Walking West
   on Rector Street from Broadway, you pass Church, Greenwich then
   Washington Streets.

   There are multiple blocks of parking lots right there, between
   Washington and Greenwich Streets, starting at the Battery Tunnel
   and extending North for a number of blocks.

   Nearest mass transit stations, in order, are the '1/9' (Rector
   Street), 'R/W' (Rector Street) and the '4/5' (Wall Street).

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

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   -----------------
2. UPCOMING MEETINGS
   -----------------

   We have a series of meetings in the works:

   - 17-FEB-2005 : Zope / Web Page Development
                   Rob Page / Zope Corporation

   - 17-MAR-2005 : Solaris 10 Part 2
                   Field Trip to Sun Microsystems

   - 21-APR-2005 : AFS and OpenAFS
                   Jeff Altman / Secure Endpoints

   - IPsec
   - Samba
   - Field Trip to HP - Invited
   - Field Trip to CA - Invited
   - Unix 35th Birthday Celebration
   - DNS
   - Unix Clusters and Clustered Databases
   - Linux Clustering Part 3: Beowulf version 2
   - Building a Firewall using FreeBSD and Linux
   - High Performance Internet Servers / Web Acceleration
   - Unix Office Tools: Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Accounting Packages.
   - PKI
   - GNU Development Environments
   - iSCSI, Serial ATA, and other new peripheral technologies

   Please let us know about any other meeting topics that you may be
   interested in.  Potential speakers on Unix related technology topics
   should contact the Unigroup board at uniboard@unigroup.org.

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I hope to see you all at our next meeting!

-Rob Weiner
 Unigroup Executive Director
 unilist@unigroup.org
 http://www.unigroup.org

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