What does BLU get from Culminis???

[Keller, Tim]

This smells distinctly of Astroturfing...

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Feldman [mailto:gaf at blu.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 4:25 PM
To: BLU Discussion List
Subject: Re: What does BLU get from Culminis???


The issue is Boston User Groups, Inc, which the BLU is a member. Pat
Torme, BUG president sent email to Culminis to remove BUG and its
members from their web site as BUG does NOT have a relaitonship with
Culminis. AFAK, no BUG group has a relaitonship, except possibly the
Windows Server Group that had a security seminar. 
On 02 Jun 2004 08:40:59 -0400
"Grant M." <grant at napc.com> wrote:

> Just looking at the Membership page, it looks like the Boston User
> Groups member page was just copied to the Culminis Membership page.
> That's interesting, as it contains groups like Macintosh, Websphere,
> and Palm in addition to other groups that I suspect might have
> something to say about an affiliation with the Culminis group. If
> Boston User Groups did not approve such an affiliation, then I suggest
> that they make it clear that no affiliation exists now or ever
> existed, and that any reference to them be removed from Culminis'
> website ASAP. As a note, take out Boston User Groups listing, and the
> list of Member orgs becomes significantly shorter.
> Grant M.
> 
> On Wed, 2004-06-02 at 07:48, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> > I am on the board of directors of Boston User Groups, and I am
> > investigating it. I don't remember a discussion on this. 
> > On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 22:53:00 -0400
> > Jerry Kincade <kincadej at cox.net> wrote:
> > 
> > >     Hello to Boston!  I am a member of the local Linux/Unix group
> > >     where 
> > > I live, and pretty new to Linux.  I have come to really appreciate
> > > Open Source thinking and, of course, Open Source Software. 
> > > However, at work I am a Windows drone, and likely to remain one
> > > for some time. Oh well... it's a living...  Anyway, I was flipping
> > > through a Windows magazine and came across an article about a new
> > > Non-profit organization called Culminis (www.culminis.org). 
> > > Reading the article and checking out the web site with an
> > > admittedly skeptical eye towards Microsoft's involvement, I was
> > > suspicious of their agenda and motivations.  My first instinct was
> > > to see this as a FUD-fount for Redmond, intended to dress up
> > > product placement and infomercials as friendly philanthropy, akin
> > > to MS support for the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute.
> > >     I made a quick scroll through the list of (they say, I didn't
> > >     count) 
> > > 450 member groups (www.culminis.org/MemberOrganizations.htm). 
> > > Only two of these groups have Unix or Linux in their name.  One is
> > > Boston Linux & Unix, complete with a link to your web site.
> > >     So I am curious.  What was the motivation for BLU to join the 
> > > Culminis Aliance Program (CAP)?  Does your group see a positive
> > > agenda
> > > 
> > > and some value in this association?  Does this Microsoft funded 
> > > organization have a vendor/OS neutral message consistent with it
> > > being
> > > 
> > > "non-profit"?
> > >     Thanks for your time.
> > > 
> > >     --  Jerry  --
> > > 
> > >    
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Discuss mailing list
> > > Discuss at blu.org
> > > http://www.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > > 
> 


-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9