established - Desktop Video Group

y Jonathan Rotenberg
THE BOSTON
COMPUTER SOCIETY:
1987-1997
People often ask me, "What is the
future of the BCS? What are you planning
to do over the next few years?"
I generally tell them that in such a fastchanging
industry, we're lucky if we know
what we're doing next week.
They usually don't look very satisfied
with this answer.
"Okay," I suggest, "look at the BCS's
logo—the four arrow buttons. This clever insignia
has two meanings that sum up everything
you need to know about the BCS.
First, we're a computer organization. Second,
we're always going in all directions at
the same time."
This is about the best brief answer I can
give. It's hard enough trying to describe all
the things the BCS does today, let alone
what it might do in the future. In fact, I
find it remarkably difficult just trying to explain
what the BCS is.
This point became intensely clear to me
about three years ago when I was on vacation.
I met some people who had no familiarity
with computers, and I was trying to
explain to them what I did in Boston. After
several confusing attempts, I finally explained
that the organization I work for
"kind of does for personal computer owners
what the AAA does for people with cars."
"You mean you tow computers?" someone
asked.
"Not quite," I said.
The BCS's mission. To understand where
the BCS is going, perhaps it's easiest to
start with our mission and how it is evolving.
The BCS is chartered as a nonprofit,
educational corporation dedicated to educating
people on all aspects of personal corn-
Jonathan Rotenberg is president of The Boston Computer Society.
126 COMPUTER UPDATE
puters. We serve three different kinds of
audiences: personal computer users, personal
computer buyers, and the nontechnical
public. Our goal is to be there when
people need us to answer their questions
and to fulfill their information, education,
product support, and moral support needs.
This is, admittedly, a broad mission.
Many BCS members today aren't even
necessarily aware that they have "information
or education needs"; they might realize,
however, that they can't seem to get a
new software package to work with their
printer, that their operating system is acting
bizarrely, or that they are utterly confused
and terrified by computer salespeople.
Although our mission is essentially the
same in 1987 as it was in 1977, it manifests
itself in very different ways today. In 1977,
very few BCS members actually owned or
even used personal computers, but all were
curious about the possibilities. Today, nearly
every BCS member regularly uses a computer,
and most own at least one as well.
Most BCS members today seem less interested
in the overall personal computer
phenomenon, but, rather, are more focused
on accomplishing specific tasks with their
computers. As a result, most of the Society's
newer services are much more narrowly
focused on helping people with very specific
kinds of problems.
Planning for 1997. I suspect that the
needs of BCS members in 1997 will be as
different from those of today's members as
today's are different from those of members
ten years ago. We don't believe that personal
computer technology will mature in
the near future, and we think that users and