[tex-announce] Sep23 news: TUG office changes, no dvd as of 2024, meeting, review

[TeX Users Group]

Dear TeX users,

It is common for newly elected TUG presidents to say that when they
started using TeX they didn't expect to end up at the head of the
TeX Users Group---this certainly applies to me. But you can trust that I
will do my best in this position. Things have been rather eventful since
I started, with the retirement of Robin Laakso, our long-serving office
manager. See the announcement below, as well as the name of her
replacement, who was promptly found.

Another sign of changing times is that we have decided to no longer
offer the TeX Collection DVD starting next year. It was felt there were
better uses for TUG's limited resources nowadays, and will hopefully not
come as a surprise.

Best,
Arthur Rosendahl, TUG President

%%

With bittersweet feelings, the TUG Board would like to announce that our
Executive Director for almost a quarter of a century, Robin Laakso, 
is moving on to other endeavors.  Her tireless work and dedication made 
many aspects of TUG's activities possible.  She handled or assisted in
all TUG affairs: financial, tax, printing and distribution of TUGboat
and other publications, organization of conferences, and many, many
others.  We are glad she is taking a well-deserved respite, though we
will miss her tremendously.

Wishing you many fulfilling years ahead, Robin!

At the same time, we are happy to announce that Sophia Laakso, Robin's
daughter, has taken the position of office manager with TUG.  She has
already participated in TUG's activities over the years, making her
ideally suited to step into the role. We are planning for a smooth
transition.

%%

Further information about discontinuing the DVD as a general membership
benefit in 2024: our experience is that the vast majority of members
have sufficient bandwidth to access downloads nowadays. Therefore making
the DVD as a large bulk production and mailing doesn't seem the best use
of time or money.

We expect the main images (TeX Live, MiKTeX) to still be available, so
DVDs can still be burned on an individual basis. This will most likely
be done by volunteers. More details to follow. There is a new mailing
texdvd at tug.org (https://lists.tug.org/texdvd) for discussion and requests.

%%

More usual news:

- The 17th ConTeXt meeting will take place Sept. 10-16
in Prague-Sib\v{r}ina, Czech Republic. 
https://meeting.contextgarden.net/2023/

- The new book LaTeX Graphics with TikZ, by Stefan Kottwitz,
has been reviewed for TUGboat by samcarter.
https://tug.org/books/reviews/tb138reviews-kottwitz-tikz.html

- Submissions for the next TUGboat are welcome and encouraged;
the deadline is October 15.
https://tug.org/TUGboat/location.html

Happy TeXing,
Arthur and the entire TUG board