Date of Meeting: June 10, 2000

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM by President Amy Ruell. Minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved without amendments.

Amy informed all present that the operations manager of National Braille Press had contacted her and stated that people were still leaving trash and food in the meeting room. Amy reiterated the importance of respecting the space in which we were meeting; she reminded all of us to keep track of our belongings, and to carry them with us so that when it was time to vacate the space nothing would be lost or left behind. She said she would try to get better information about the specific complaints so that we can address this issue.

Amy told us that we at present had at least 55 VIBUG members. She also informed all present that thanks to Don Breda we had a new speaker system for listening to demonstrations and classes. Since the cost of $73.00 was under $100.00, there was not a need to vote on approving this expense. Amy reminded all present that there would be no meeting in July. She also stated that she had made the executive decision not to run the next I E5 class until September because it was summer, and people had other commitments. Amy requested that people who had products they could demonstrate should contact her. She indicated she was very interested in talking with people who had items they thought would be good to show in the August demonstration, games and gadgets. She told us that she had received a CD of games from Betts, and that she had also received Grizzly Gulch. Ginny Said she knew of a chess game which she would try to acquire for demonstration purposes.

Amy told us that she had contacted the Commission for the Blind and was currently in the process of arranging to have letters sent out to blind children who might be interested in attending the August demonstration. Jan Doremus said she would assist us in finding the best contact in the Children's Department who could assist us in that process. Ted Filteau also suggested that we contact the Carroll Center as they might have lists of some children who would also be interested in the august demonstration.

Amy announced that the nominating committee members are Ronda, Stosh, Fred, and Ginny. Amy stated that officers would be writing their descriptions of duties and provide it to Amy by the middle of July. It would then be made available to people who wish to know what the duties of positions are so that they can determine whether they have interest in running for offices. She further informed the committee that she would like them to have recommended a slate of officers by the September meeting. She told all present that if they were interested in serving as officers they should contactany member of the Nominating Committee.

Amy announced that in September the founder of the search engine Seti-Search would be at our meeting. She will talk about this search engine, and the general subject of searching for information on the internet.

Amy announced that GW Micros Beta is ready for downloading, as is the i.e. 5. Beta.

Amy announced that it was anticipated that there would be an announcement next week from Arkenstone that they are merging with Freedom Scientific.

She announced that the VIBUG Thursday chats would be more informal in summer.

John Oliveira announced that the Association of Blind Citizens would be holding a baseball game, with entertainment and food, on August 19th. People should go to the Beaconsfield Stop on the Riverside Green Line. For more information about this event, people can call: 781-654-2000. The Association for Blind Citizens first meeting will be held at the Boston Public Library on June 22nd. Again, people can call the number listed here, or check out their website at
http://www.assocofblindcitizens.org.

In our question and answer portion of the meeting, we talked about how to delete programs when in the windows environment. We also discussed how to get around the problems encountered when it appears that the windows "control-P" command will not work easily when printing. We suggested checking the printers folder, and sending each page individually to the printer. We also suggested that sometimes shutting down the program and re-opening it will solve some printing problems. Finally, we discussed the problems encountered by one person because her JFW.INI files appear to be missing. It was suggested that these files might need to be re-installed again.

The business portion of the meeting was adjourned at 1:45 PM. John Mattioli then demonstrated Intuits Quicken Software, and the meeting was officially adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jeanette Kutash, Clerk