Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Mickyj.com — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:14:03 GMT

I am glad to say that in 2012 GITCA is big and strong. Much time has passed since 2008 and things are still evolving. Michael Jenkin GITCA APAC

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Graham Jones — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:43:04 GMT

Yes Culminis Inc is dead. It died on October 1st, 2008 and the volunteer version of Culminis became GITCA on December 1st, 2009, essentially as a new organization. If there was any expectation that a well funded company [Culminis Inc] with multiple paid staff could "instantly" be replaced with a volunteer organization on a world wide basis that was totally unrealistic, regardless of geographic location. It was never going to be "system normal" for quite some time. The systems and services that Culminis Inc provided were developed over a 5 year period with the investment of a substantial amount of money and people.

At the outset it was clear to us that Culminis Inc had enjoyed considerable success in Brasil and one must give them credit for that. So it is quite understandable that there would be disappointment when it was shut down. However, the experience had been quite different in many other places around the world and the switch to a volunteer organization has by and large been met with a positive response. We are beginning to get engagement in places that never worked with Culminis Inc..

Getting to where we are now has been quite difficult and demanding and has taken much longer than anyone expected or desired, resulting in an understandable "where did they go?" feeling for many. That is definitely one of the challenges of a volunteer org. We would readily acknowledge that there is still a long way to go to meet the needs and desires of the IT community which we recognize does vary geographically. That recognition resulted in the formation of Regional Boards including one for LATAM.

The reasoning behind a switch to an all volunteer org and Microsoft's view of the overall effectiveness of Culminis Inc for dollars invested on a world wide basis is complex. Suffice it to say that Brasil could not be seen as completely separate despite the apparent success there and funding that came from Culminis Inc for some of the past activities was definitely not going to continue at previous levels anyway. Had Culminis Inc continued it would have been with substantially reduced funding and therefore people, rendering it much less effective. Volunteers from the IT community was an obvious way of finding resources. Money helps but does not guarantee success any more than lack of it guarantees failure.

If the community wants to improve and grow then it must help itself. INETA may not have worked in Brasil but it has been very successful in North America and Europe. It is easy to complain when something is taken away. It is much more challenging to figure out how to replace it. As individuals we can either decide to stand on the sidelines and complain or get involved and help. The volunteers who now run GITCA decided that the latter is the right thing to do. What about the people in Brasil? If volunteering doesn't work there, as has been suggested in some of the previous posts, then I think that is very sad.

Incidentally the Chair of the LATAM Regional Board [Jamil Lopes - jamil.lopes@GITCA.org] happens to be Brasilian! Perhaps poeple should contact him to find out what is happening, offer ideas or, better still, volunteer to help. People could also contact Felipe Zunige [felipe.zunige@GITCA.org]in Chile. Felipe is the LATAM Vice-Chair. Both Jamil and Felipe are keen to get things moving in LATAM and to hear from people.

So we are definitely not "over" as has been suggested. Our world wide membership has grown steadily over the past few months and continues to grow.

Regards

Graham Jones

Chair GITCA Global Board

graham.jones@GITCA.org

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Graham Watson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:57:32 GMT

I disagree - Culminis has changed substantially, but it's anything but over! It has a new name (Global IT Community Association - GITCA), and is run entirely by the community rather than a business, but it's anything but over. If fact I believe it's in much better shape, in that it truly is a community now.

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Jukio Cezer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:09:39 GMT

two years later, confirmation. Dennes Torres was right.

Culminis is over!

Отъезд из Москвы

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Ищу хуис сервис

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Alcuni cambiamenti sul supporto agli User Group

Be_Lead Blog — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:20:59 GMT

Un post molto interessante relativo ad alcuni cambiamenti sul modello di supporto agli User Group worldwide:

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Dennes Torres — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:50:57 GMT

Hi,

Like I said in your blog that will happend, I loose my MVP title because my opinions about Culminis changes, that I wrote here.

Microsoft, specially Microsoft Brasil, prefer to hide the problems than to try to solve them. So one MVP that make critics to Microsoft isn't a good MVP.

So, all the marketing in MVP Summit talking about how Microsoft needs the community and the MVPs to show how to do things better is just that : Marketing

Congratulations for your great contributions to the community!

Dennes Torres

ex-MVP

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Sushanta Sahu — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:52:41 GMT

We are expecting a whole lot of wonderful things from our People Ready organization, Microsoft.

re: Announcing some key changes to the way Microsoft supports User Groups

Israel Lucania — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:05:40 GMT

Olá a todos!

Sou um dos Líderes do Grupo de Usuários Build Brasil (antigo Build Developer´s). Nós iniciamos nossas atividades em outubro de 2004 e desde então, como todos os grupos brasileiros passamos por muitas fases diferentes. No inicio tínhamos um apoio muito forte da Microsoft, mas com o tempo esse apoio foi diminuindo até chegar ao nível atual. Os grupos de usuários para realizar um evento tem que cada vez mais criar alternativas para suportar as fases da realização dos mesmos. A autonomia dos grupos para realizar eventos traz beneficios a todos nós dos grupos, principalmente em relação ao networking que acaba sendo feito. Mas o ponto que quero chegar é que a INETA, veio para ajudar e ajudou muito os grupos de usuários de desenvolvimento,mas acabou se tornando uma organização inerte devido a uma série de fatores, do incio desse ano pra cá a INETA começou a melhorar, principalmente depois da regionalização de seus coordenadores e da parceria com a Culminis.

Ai é que está, a INETA voltou a melhorar ao firmar parceria com a Culminis e adotar algumas práticas comuns. Eu pergunto:

Se a INETA tornou-se um pouco mais eficiente ao realizar atividades em comum com a CULMINIS, por que a CULMINIS vai se tornar uma organização moldada como a INETA?

Será que o tempo não vai fazer com que ambas organizações se tornem inertes?

Sem um apoio efetivo, como o oferecido até agora pela CULMINIS, a tendência é que os grupos de usuários cada vez mais sejam abondonados e extintos. Mesmo porque a Microsoft através do TechNet e MSDN não tem oferecido tanto apoio assim aos grupos. Por mais o pessoal do TechNet e MSDN Brasil lutem a determinações da Microsoft Corp prejudicam e muito o apoio que já tivemos. A INETA também não pode oferecer tanto apoio assim e agora a Culminis me parece seguir pelo mesmo caminho.

Espero estar errado, mas infelizmente pelo que já vi, acredito que isso não traga beneficios aos grupos brasileiros.

Muito pelo contrário, só trará mais dificuldades para todos nós, mas como "somos brasileiros e não desistimos nunca", pois que venham as mudanças!

[]´s

Israel Lucania

Líder Build Brasil