Hi everybody, Last year around this time, an organization was formed called the Boston User Groups (http://www.bostonusergroups.com). WLUG was invited to participate. As a group, we decided to pay our $50/year membership fee to participate for the first year. Some of you might remember this meeting, where the general consensus was "OK, let's try it for a year and see how it goes". Our yearly membership dues are being requested by BUG. I had some questions about whether or not WLUG should continue its participation in BUG. I had a discussion with the WLUG members who attended the BBQ. Several of those people thought that the discussion should take place among the entire WLUG membership. The timing of BUG events is such that I'd like to settle this issue before our next WLUG meeting (ideally within the next week). Take a look at the BUG webpage as you consider my comments and those of other WLUG members. Please take note of the other groups who are current BUG members. There are 3 Linux groups, a Palm group, a Mac group, and some others, not to mention the wide variety of Microsoft related user groups. Given that Microsoft is a documented monopoly (a court said that, not just me), this distribution of member groups should not be a surprise to anybody. Some of the commentary below assumes familiarity with the contents of the BUG website. My initial question (if I recall correctly) was to wonder about what tangible benefit WLUG received for its $50 expenditure. a) BUG has a link to the WLUG website on its website b) WLUG had a table at last year's MegaMeeting and gave out literature advertising the group, its meetings, etc. c) I met some leaders of other regional user groups while eating free pizza, drinking free soda, and touring the US DataCenters facility in Marlboro, MA. d) I know that we got at least one new WLUG member from the MegaMeeting. Perhaps there were others, or folks who shortly thereafter joined the mailing list, but I have no way to know for sure. The BUG website also has a calendar of group activities onto which WLUG's activities were never placed. The calendar is designed for groups who meet, say, every 2nd Thursday of the month. WLUG's schedule is not as regular as that, and hence our information was not put onto the calendar after two requests by me. Rick Zach is the current BUG president. He recently sent an e-mail to the user group leaders (attached) wherein he describes some of the benefits of BUG membership. I also have personally spoken to Rick to make sure my information about BUG is correct so that I can present it fairly to the WLUG membership. My question to WLUG is: Do we as a group wish to continue our participation in BUG for $50/year ? Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org