Tentative talks have begun between the two Unix user bodies in the UK to discuss the possibility of combining the two groups. A working party is being set up to examine the problems and advantages of a merger. Currently users in the UK may be confused over which body is responsible for what, and one of the working party’s tasks will be to define what each does and where activities overlap. The UK Unix Users Group was set up in the 1970s to provide a forum for discussion for all the technical issues surrounding the Unix operating system and the C programming, and was a major force in formation of the European Unix User Group. /usr/group/UK had its first meeting in the spring of 1983 and was attended by representatives of the commercial Unix world; its mission is to promote the use of Unix for the benefit of people in the commercial world. Combining user groups must be all the rage as at the recent Informix user group meeting members were told that a decision had been made to work in conjunction with the Uniplex user group – formed for the benefit of Redwood’s office automation software users. Frequently users of the Informix database management system use it in conjunction with the Uniplex software. Although the details are not yet finalised, a benefit to members would be discounted membership of the other group.
