It has been a quiet few days in the IT land lately and I’ve been working quite hard to figure out just what motivates people to attend IT Professonal user groups. This is a multi-dimensional survey that not only attempts to determine users motivation to network with others on technical merits, but also to see what level of it is business-growth motivated. Considering a large portion of the surveyed identify themselves as business owners, what motivates them to share information with their competitors and how much do they trust their vendors?

So far the results are fairly typical:
- Members are fairly customer-focused
- Members are motivated to grow their technical expertise
- Members are interested in small business technology

What is somewhat surprising (but by no means unwarranted) is the:
- Inherent distrust for software / hardware vendors
- Although Microsoft focused, very interested in competitive solutions
- Not interested in reliance on Microsoft

These points are somewhat interesting and seem to show a high desire to get information about Microsoft from an independent source. If you take a look at the popular Microsoft Professional site, Redmond Magazine, at least 25% of the content seems to be Linux based. Now why would people that have spent money, time and effort to become certified in Microsoft technology show any interest in Linux? Why do people that gather to discuss SBS and whose livelihood depends on SBS want to know more about the technology that directly competes with everything Microsoft Windows stands for, especially from software use rights?

Interesting questions, I hope the survey answers those in due time. Check back in a week when I hope to disect the final results.

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