Two compelling advantages drove the decision for Windchill® users to join forces with Pro/USER, Inc. The first is that many PTC® customers that support Pro/USER (including the companies represented by the Board of Directors) are now Windchill customers. And second, the mission of PTC’s Board of Customer Advisors (BOCA)— the early adopters providing feedback to PTC on Windchill development—came to an end in November 2000.

Although Pro/USER had attempted to develop a relationship for several years, BOCA members showed reservations to our approach because of Pro/USER’s traditionally MCAD-centric focus. While true, we as an organization have also embraced tools such as Pro/PDM® , Optegra® , and Pro/INTRALINK®, as well as viewers such as ProductView® . What we felt we could bring to the Windchill developer community was our organizational and conference planning skills.

In November 2000, Pro/USER's Vice President and Director of Conferences Paul Wilson made a presentation to 100 or so of Windchill’s most prominent customers. He impressed on them that what Pro/USER had to offer was indeed of value. Once they understood our organizational structure and how our user group model could benefit them, the separate but parallel organization known as the Windchill Developers Group was born.

Like Pro/USER, the Windchill Developers Group is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving PTC customers worldwide. Working in cooperation with PTC, the leading Windchill user companies that participated in BOCA, and other Windchill users around the world, we have already launched several informationsharing initiatives.

Annual Conference. The first annual Windchill Developers Group Conference will share the same venue with the 2001 Pro/USER International Conference. Windchill users will have their own dedicated track of user and PTC presentations, while also having access to the general sessions that make Pro/USER’s International Conference such a success, including powerful keynote speakers and our famous Exhibit Hall. The expanded and enhanced Windchill agenda will also feature participation of both PTC software experts and senior managers.

The feedback from the Pro/USER community on running the Windchill event simultaneously with the Pro/USER International Conference has been very positive. This is an exciting opportunity to make the 2001 Windchill Developers Group Conference just as valuable and informative an event as the Pro/USER International Conference.

On the Web. Pro/USER has created a dedicated website for the Windchill Developers Group at www.mywindchill.org. This website will include Windchill-specific information about Internet services, current Technical Committee contacts, and future Regional User Groups.

In addition, Pro/USER has added new mailing lists to its email exploder to cover Windchill-related topics. For more information, visit www.prouser.org/exploder, where you will find a wizard that walks you through the subscription process.

Technical Committees. As explained on page 18, two Windchill Technical Committees (TC) are already active and several more are in formation. To learn more about technical committees in general, or about the Windchill TCs in particular, please visit www.prouser.org/tc or www.mywindchill.org/tc.