(Crossposted to many mainframe mailing lists...) Mainframes still aren't dead, z/Journal -- Bob Thomas' new magazine previously announced on these lists -- will testify to that, and many of us have supported and been helped by user groups during our careers.
I'm writing an article for z/Journal on mainframe-related user groups. I have my own feelings and experiences with user groups, and am happy that groups like SHARE and WAVV are -- like mainframes, and us mainframers -- still around. I know about these large groups and many smaller/regional/local user groups. But I'd like to include as broad a picture as possible. I'll appreciate people sending me *brief* (couple paragraphs at most) notes about experiences with user groups: organizing them, running them, attending them, benefiting from them. Let me know about local groups; collaboration with non-mainframe groups; mainframe groups becoming more inclusive, like SHARE evolving to include everything relevant to enterprise computing; non-USA groups; etc. And I'd like to hear about groups that disbanded, for perspective on what went wrong: Guide is an example of that, paralleling SHARE for decades and then disappearing when the industry changed. Please respond directly to me (in addition to the lists, if you like) and please don't change the Subject line: I receive some of these lists in digest form and I'm not on all the lists; this will make it much easier for me to capture responses. Thanks. -- Gabriel Goldberg, Computers and Publishing, Inc. (703) 941-1657 6580 Bermuda Green Court, Alexandria, VA 22312-3103 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Personal information: <http://www.cpcug.org/user/gabe> Monthly Internet presentations: <http://www.cpcug.org/user/internet>
