sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sunflash@suntri sunflash-Send requests and problem reports to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Welcome TO THE CMW Users Group SunFLASH Vol 54 #4 June 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54.4 Welcome TO THE CMW Users Group The CMW Users Group is (for now) simply an alias for users of the SunOS CMW Operating System. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff.Huntington@EBay (Jeff Huntington) mail address to get added to list: cmw-users-request@Sun.COM main alias: cmw-users@Sun.COM We are please to announce the newly-created CMW Users Group. As described in the attached document, the CMW Users Group is (for now) simply an alias which has been set up is administered by me. To make this alias easier for customers to use, it has been made a Sun alias. A companion administrative alias (cmw-users-request@Sun.COM) has been created as the mechanism for becoming a member of the users group. The door is now open for membership. Any Sun employee reading this announcement is invited to join the users group. Also, we would like your help in contacting CMW users and inviting them to join the users group. The attached document contains the information needed to understand the purpose, rules, and procedures of the users group; it will tell you and your customers how to join. This document will be e-mailed to each person who joins the CMW Users Group. You are invited to send a copy to anyone who might be interested in becoming a member of the CMW Users Group. Jeff Huntington -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CMW USER'S GROUP The CMW USERS GROUP IN A NUTSHELL Sun Federal has set up this CMW users group to provide a two-way communication channel between us and our CMW users. We hope that the information interchange fostered by the CMW users group will contribute to a better CMW product and make your job easier. The CMW users group has the following guiding principles. This is not an official support channel. This is not a general Sun information alias; the information will be about CMW only. At the present time, the CMW users group is strictly an e-mail alias. We do not want to duplicate services that are widely available elsewhere. There are two e-mail aliases that are of interest to the CMW users group. One alias, cmw-users@Sun.COM, is the general CMW information interchange alias. It is the alias for users to exchange CMW-related information. The second alias, cmw-users-request@Sun.COM, is an administrative alias. This alias is used to make requests to be added or deleted from the CMW users group. These aliases operate on the Internet, and are maintained on a server within Sun Federal INTRODUCTION Welcome to the CMW users group! Before proceedings we'd like to make sure you are clear on why the CMW users group was created, the goals of the users group, and guidelines that have been established to insure its success. The following sections will describe the policy and mechanics of the the e-mail alias and tell you how to become a member. Purpose The CMW users group is a forum established to satisfy the following goals: * Provide a communications channel for the CMW activities at Sun Federal. The CMW users group is aimed at the current CMW user community. This includes users, programmers, System Administrators, ISSOs, and integrators. To keep you better informed, we will use this mechanism to communicate future product plans, technical solutions, and general CMW information that is of interest to the CMW user community. * Establish a method for CMW users and developers to post questions to a group of like-minded individuals. Although internet has an abundance of newsgroups and aliases, the discussions tend to be much more general than in vendor-sponsored forums. We have set up this CMW users alias to serve as the medium for discussion between CMW users. By using the mechanism of the CMW users alias, CMW users are able to exchange ideas, discuss issues, share information and experiences, and work together to solve common problems. We hope that you, and other users like yourself, will find it to be an excellent source of answers and new ideas. * Allow CMW users to provide feedback to Sun Federal We recognize that you are our biggest asset, and we want to insure that we are meeting your needs. Therefore, we encourage you to post your comments and constructive criticisms to the alias. We will also occasionally send out surveys to help us in product planning. We appreciate, and will use, any information that we receive from you. Guiding Principles We hope that the previous sections have excited you about the benefits of the CMW users group. However, while designing the users group we realized that some people might have expectations about the program that were not in our current plans. Therefore, we have listed the following principles to address some of these concerns. Please keep these in mind as you use the alias. * The CMW users group is not an official support channel. This users alias is not meant to take the place of the official Sun support channels. An official support contract promises you guaranteed answers within a guaranteed time, often provides for product upgrades, and represents, if necessary, a pledge to write and distribute a patch to fix a known problem. Although Sun Federal thinks that your happiness as a customer is the key to our success, we do not imagine this alias to be a frontline support vehicle. With that said -- we would, of course, like to do what we can. You might have a question that is simple for someone on the alias to answer; in this case, post it and someone will post a reply. If we decide the question is of the nature for an official support organization we will redirect you. We also sincerely hope that your fellow CMW users group members will pitch in with answers. They represent a huge body of experience and can probably help out in many instances. * Membership is restricted. To encourage an open interchange of information among users group members, only current Solaris CMW users, developers, or others with a bonafide interest in CMW will be admitted to the alias. * Please limit discussion to issues related to Solaris CMW. * e-mail is our sole method of communication. While in time additional programs might be added, for now the CMW users group consists of a users alias. There are a lot of benefits to e-mail: it's quick, it doesn't kill trees, and it's available day and night. Sun Microsystems, as an organization, lives on e-mail. The reason for setting up a cmw-users e-mail alias is to allow, and encourage, users to exchange ideas and questions, and receive quick feedback on issues relating to the use and administration of Solaris CMW. Along the way, we hope that everyone might pick up a useful nugget or two that will help them more effectively use their Solaris CMW system. Postings should be addressed to cmw-users@Sun.COM. * The Legal Disclaimer All opinions or statements made in messages posted to the CMW users alias should be taken as the opinions of the person who wrote the message. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the employer of that person, the owner of the computer from which the message was posted, or the owners of any of the underlying networks. All information posted to the alias is posted on an "as-is" basis, and no level of product quality is guaranteed or implied. How To Become a Member of the CMW users group The cmw-users alias is assessable from the Internet, which is comprised of a number of computer networks. To become a member of the CMW users group alias, you must have access to the internet. A form is provided at the end of this document for your use in joining the alias. Please supply all requested information. When completed, the form can easily be cut and pasted into an e-mail message to request alias membership. Requests to be added to the cmw-users alias, change your e-mail address, be removed from the alias, and the like should be sent to the cmw-users-request@Sun.COM alias. If you are having a problem with the cmw-users alias and can't, or don't want to, post them to the e-mail alias, please feel free to forward them to this administrative alias. For the cmw-users alias to work, it is important that you stay in touch. If you are changing e-mail addresses, send us the new one. If you cease to be a CMW user, please let us know so that you can be removed from the alias. A large, outdated, alias is an ugly thing. Usage Tips Using e-mail effectively is an art. The following are some tips for getting the most out of e-mail communication. * Writing Subtlety is difficult to communicate in written form -- especially over e-mail. Therefore, say what you mean. Explicitly reference the message that you are responding to. If there are several threads of discussion, it might not be obvious to whom you are responding. Use descriptive titles. The subject line of an article is there to enable a person with a limited amount of time to decide whether or not to read your message. Use this space to everyone's benefit. * Responding When you respond to e-mail, you have the choice of either replying to just the sender or to everyone he or she sent the message to (which could be the entire alias). Think carefully before you respond to the whole alias, although we encourage this when your response could benefit everyone. All mail programs include a method for choosing who to respond to. if you don't know how to use yours, please talk to your local UNIX guru. Machine Differences In preparing a message, be aware that other machines might not be the same as yours. The following is a list of things to keep in mind: * Except for source, keep your lines under 80 characters, and under 72 if possible. * Right justifying your messages usually makes them harder to read on a computer screen. Don't justify your postings. * Most special control characters will not work for most readers. Even tabs aren't always the same from machine to machine and should be avoided. * Pictures and diagrams should not use embedded tabs. * Submissions in a single case (all upper or all lower) are usually more difficult to read. Personal Posting Do not post messages that are of a personal or administrative nature. Examples might include: "Remove me from this alias" "Here is my new physical address." "How do I sign up a friend?" These postings should instead be directed to the alias administrator, which can be reached at cmw-users-request@Sun.COM. We will respond to you by return e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sign me up for the CMW Users Alias Date ______________________________________________________________ Name ______________________________________________________________ Company ______________________________________________________________ e-mail Address ________________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________________ City ___________________________________ State _____________________ ZIP ____________________________________ Country ___________________ Phone ______________________ Fax ________________________ ALL INFO MUST BE FILLED OUT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. 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