Graham Watson, senior marketing manager at Microsoft has announced that Culminis will be transitioning to a volunteer-based organization, similar to INETA. Culminis is the association of Microsoft IT Pro user groups, sister organization to INETA which is the association of .NET user groups. I have been working with Culminis members for the last several years co-chairing the Birds-of-a-Feather track at TechEd conferences.

As I understand it, Culminis has been receiving funding for staff as well as programs from Microsoft. On the other hand INETA's funding covers programs and minimal paid staff who support volunteers. Graham takes care to point out that Microsoft values user groups highly, and that there are pros and cons to each funding model. That said, Microsoft and Culminis will be working together to move their organization closer to the INETA model. My very best wishes to the Culminis crew through the upcoming transition period.

"The core services will be available to the new volunteer Culminis community and INETA as well as other associations such as PASS," writes Graham. "We think this is particularly advantageous to the community as a whole, as it ensures that Microsoft support is available to all User Groups and not just IT Pro groups."

Got a comment? Graham is really interested in your feedback.