FAQ:

We got also one of the (in)famous lists of Frequently Asked Questions (or at least the one we believe to be asked)

• When and Where ?
• Conference Language
• VCF - Why an English Title ?
• What does Vintage mean ?
• Why VCFe, VCF/E, VCF 1.0(e) or VCF 1.0e ?
• What's a Nerd ?
• Consignment Booth ? Whatsthatthing ?
• Why are the Pages so 'Colourless' ?
• Is there a Church Mass on Sunday ?
• I am Hungry !
• May I Help ?
• Do I need Winter Clothes ?

If there is any question left: Click here and tell us !

When and Where ?

When:
 29th of April 2000 from 10am till 6:30pm and
 30th of April 2000 from 10:15am till 5pm
Where:
 Mehrzweckhalle des ESV München Ost
 Baumkirchner Straße 57
 81673 Munich
 Bavaria
 Germany
 Europe
 Earth
 Solar System
 Milky Way Westside
 Locale Cluster
 Universe

Conference Language

Conference Language is German. Why ? Why not 'world language' English (Why the heck not going for Chinese) ? Well, even considering all the international visitors already anounced, the majority of the audience will be German (a real unusual fact :). It would be a litte bit dumb (and maybe a sing of vast arrogance) to select anything else. As alway the universal rule of thumb is valid: if two (or more) people like to communicate, they will find their language, no matter whats 'official or not.

So, Why an English Title ?

Answer 1: What is the most notable sign to detect a German project ? Simple: Although the patron is a German institute, all money is spend from German taxes, nobody is realy interested in the result and none of the involves knows enough English to order a Hamburger at McD, the project has to wield the abrevation of some (bad translated) English words.
Answer 2: The title VCFe is not only taken (well, better a good copy than a bad copyright :), it should also display in a very visible manner that we're inplementing a unique and unified concept across the world. We are not about to create dozens of non organized events fighting a holy war about the right way. And more than this, also some of the heads behind the scenes are the same on both sides of the big pond. The event should celebrate our heritage independant of location, language or performers in a true network (Of course it may eventualy be a bit more Bavarian over here).

What does Vintage mean ?

- explanation skiped in English Version out of obvious reason -
(well, no joke, over here this is really one of the most common questions. It seems as if Vintage isn't part of the basic school vocabulary :)

Why VCFe, VCF/E, VCF 1.0(e) or VCF 1.0e ?

Have you ever seen a consistent scheme to use version numbers ? Especialy when marketing and translation comes into action ?

What's a Nerd ?

Egghead ? Maybe not a question in the US, but the basic concept of a Nerd or a Geek is almost impossible to translate. These concepts, especialy in their negative image, just don't exist in most European cultures - over here it is accepted and mainstream to technological and scientific orientated. It is considered a desirabel goal. So this is one of the rare cases where even the French, the upholder against all anglais evil may consider to adopt the term (Just to show how alien the language des États Unis is).

Consignment Booth ?

A courtesy service to sell your ol'stuff. Please see the flea market page.

Why are the Pages so 'Colourless' ?

Several people have asked me to 'pep up' the pages, using more colour and eventualy a more 'up to date' navigation style (aka Frames and Java).
First of all, these pages age not ment to satisfy carriers by transfering always increasing data blobs, but rather to carry information. Who likes to wait for several minutes, just to realize that the information he wants to get is not embeded withing the two megaoctets of stylish graphics ? So, no pictures beside the absolute esentials, and all possible information encoded as plain text. All pages are (at the moment) sized below 20 KB. Even thru a 9,600 modem the biggest one will load inbetween 15 and 25 seconds (Ok, ok, the first page accessed needs eventualy 9 more seconds for all navigational elements).
Also this pages are designed not only to be displayed with posibly every (HTML-) browser known to man (Including HL 2.5 :), but also be displayed in an acceptable manner (if not looking realy good :). Using Frames, Sourcehopping, Java and the latest weapons of the browser war will archive this goal NOT. And a 'Best Viewed with Internet Exploder 08.15 at 1600x1200' button on each page will not add any benefit (Now, if we meditate a bit about this, we will realize that 1600x1200 isn't exactly a bad resolution in any case).
The VCFe pages are checked with several common Browsers, notably Navigator, IE, Opera, Archane and of course Lynx. In fact Lynx is way more common among internet users than all of the advertiseing freak belive - and within the CC comunity it's a common tool by nature - there is almost no network enabled system without a Lynx port (No, I won't include a 'Lynx enhanced' button ... ok, you won, here's a whole page of this little tweeps).
It should be common practice to design web pages to be accessable by 'challenged' folks (and it will go hand in hand with designing browser independant pages), but it is not. These pages give 'em a try.
And the most important reason: I like the pages the way they are.

Is there a Church Mass on Sunday ?

Yes, there are churches of both major confessions near to the VCFe site. The service times are also the reason why VCFe starts a bit later on Sunday (and not, like many assumed, based on our added need for sleep after Saturday night - we know about the real usefull effects of Atzetylsalizylsäure).
Catholic:
 Sunday 8:30am
 St.Stephan
 Baumkirchner Straße 45 (At the corner of Neumarkter Straße)
Evangelican/Lutheran:
 Sunday 10am
 Offenbarungskirche
 Schildensteinstraße 15 (At the corner of Josefsburg Straße)

I am Hungry !

We may not help your actual hunger, but during VCFe there will be no starvation (within the building). Ther's a small Restaurant upstairs, ready to serve real meals, while the bar within the display area will offer sandwhiches (well not realy sandwitchs, but rather Belegte Semmeln!) and drinks.

May I Help ?

Just klick into the Participate page and check the opportunities.

Do I need Winter Clothes ?

Basicly no (unless you are from SoCal). This time of year is known to give us the first real warm days and Temperatures up to 25° Celsius (~80°F). In the night time temperatures below 8°C (~45°F) are rare. Actual long term forecast (date 04/20/00) give an estimated temperature of 13 to 18°C (57-70°F) and partly cloudy sky with a rain chance of 40%. A check for the CNN Weather pages may be useful. Keep in mind, after all it's April and at least in Germany April weather stories are based on centuries of facts.