Believe it or not,
it's been a while I haven't posted or answered any forum question on GPUG as I expected this site to vanish from one day over the other with the 'new' DAC activated at the beginning of 2021..
Nonetheless, I search for the my local chapter, and it is far less intuitive as the old GPUG site, and it returned 2 results for the Montreal local chapter..
Montreal, Quebec | ReactCast (mydacfeed.com)The URL being way less intuitive as the old method (www.gpug.com/montreal), as the new one is letteraly linked to your feed (https://mydacfeed.com/channel/ldac/montreal-quebec-5611) which I don't really call 'easy' to remember..
Clearly when I was offered to be a 'BETA' participant to early have a look at the new DAC platform, I though myself "this looks like another Microsoft training site where you gather all your bookmarks for all the topics you're interested in" .. but not a community forum. And indeed when you scroll thru the main DAC page, that's all it looks like, and when you click on the 'community' icon for GPUG, it brings you straight back to the (old) GPUG site..
What does that mean? GPUG.com as we know it will never go away ? not sure DCI wants to maintain two different platform (and pay for it) when a single one can do the job.. How well can that work ? IMHO if the new DAC site doesn't provide a rich forum interface where user's can exchange about everything, then it's not going to succeed as a user platform.. it's going to be another partner vitrine / showcase like so many Microsoft sites already exists..
@Jo deRuiter is right when saying that trying to make (more) money on the back of the members is likely to fail and be the end of the DCI community as we have known it.. The old site lived by the users for the users, granted they had sometimes partner product presented, but it needed to remain a UG site.. It is a silly move to ask high profile members like GPUG All Stars or other award winning users to ask to pay for their presentations now because they had become partners.. Granted that DCI doesn't have the cash that Microsoft has for marketing, but I truly believe that the way to attract more members is to offer free to low cost content that is useful to their daily activity.
We had a central place to write blog posts, answer forum questions and help other users out on (mostly) free time and a volunteer basis. If that spirit is no longer there, it's the beginning of the end I think..
Like
@Luc St-Yves I enjoyed the days of Convergence and Summit, but the last Summit left kind of a bad taste in the mouth... feeling torn between something that had become too big, as it way trying to split the event in multiple stages (like the 365 event slightly in parallel with DCI Summit) and something that wouldn't focus on the very product you're working with.. Granted that in those days now it's hard to draw a line between the products as many of them interwind itself and many users are facing the use of more than one tool at their job..
The future only will tell us if DCI made the right choice or not.
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Beat Bucher
Business Analyst, Dynamics GP SME
Montreal QC/Canada
@GP_Beat
http://www.gp-geek.comMontreal QC GPUG Chapter Leader
MBS MVP (2015-2018)

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Original Message:
Sent: Feb 16, 2021 07:19 AM
From: Steve Erbach
Subject: DAC
Hi, @Jo deRuiter,
I have another experience with DAC to relate. This morning I went there (I haven't visited in a while since GPUG.com is still active) to look at the Green Bay LDAC page... and it isn't there! No announcement for our Feb. 18th meeting. No list of Green Bay GPUG members. Nothing.
This does not inspire confidence.
Sincerely,
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"Sparkly" Steve Erbach - Green Bay, WI
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: twitter.com/serbach

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Excel Webinar List as of June 10, 2020
Original Message:
Sent: Feb 15, 2021 11:34 AM
From: Jo deRuiter
Subject: DAC
Hi @Matthew Arp
I spoke with the leadership of the DAC community starting in October and warned them that having a site where it's just people selling to each other would exclude the users, and partners and ISV's just 'selling to each other' would be what it turned into with zero help for the users (which is what I love about GPUG).
I am waiting to see how all this plays out, and they have kept GPUG up and running (which is good), but I, too, have the reservation that a selling site is not what this was ever intended to be.
And, if you make the mistake of clicking one of the articles on DAC, the ISV will get your contact information and it's spam city for users. I HATE that!
By the way, Lisa Lucas is no longer with the communities, but she is doing well.... there really is no one right now that we can contact.
I, myself, am not even allowed to give webinars any longer to help out the community because they've asked partners to pony up $5,000.00 for every webinar they'd want to give. It's very disappointing.
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Jo deRuiter
🌟 GPUG AllStar 2019
💫Granite Award Winner 2018,2019
Atlanta Chapter Leader
Credential Council Co-Chair
Aisling Dynamics Consulting, LLC
ERP Practice Manager
jo.deruiter@aislingdynamics.com
9518674366
Alpharetta, GA
aislingdynamics.com
Original Message:
Sent: Jan 26, 2021 10:25 AM
From: Matthew Arp
Subject: DAC
Is it just me or does the new DAC seem to bury the best things of the GP community (user engagement/discussions and learning) behind a confusing façade of meaningless IVP partner sales pitches and buzzwords that one usually finds on PowerPoints for C-levels. I get trying to re-invent oneself, and maybe this is an effort to get the communities to be more intertwined, but c'mon...
@Lisa Lucas
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Matthew Arp
Business Systems Developer
Hunton Group
Houston TX
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