19 Apr
2001
19 Apr
'01
5:58 p.m.
On April 19, Mark Gregory wrote:
Last night, I attended the 175th monthly meeting of
the Amiga Users of
Calgary. That didn't seem like much until I did the math; that's 14.5 years
of meetings (!), and probably more given that for the past few years
they've taken two of the summer months off. It got me wondering which users
group holds the record for longest continuous operation, where members
actually attend meetings at a regular interval. I know that the Toronto PET
Users Group, which is still active, has been running since 1978.
Interestingly, their Website (http://www.icomm.ca/tpug/) says they're the
_second_ oldest Commodore club.
Impressive!
I thought this might make a fun thread. So who's
older? Are there any older
clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel computers are so generic
and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
DECUS?
-Dave McGuire
19 Apr
19 Apr
10:10 p.m.
On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Dave McGuire wrote:
On April 19, Mark Gregory wrote:
IWUG?
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
Last night, I attended the 175th monthly meeting
of the Amiga Users of
Calgary. That didn't seem like much until I did the math; that's 14.5 years
of meetings (!), and probably more given that for the past few years
they've taken two of the summer months off. It got me wondering which users
group holds the record for longest continuous operation, where members
actually attend meetings at a regular interval. I know that the Toronto PET
Users Group, which is still active, has been running since 1978.
Interestingly, their Website (http://www.icomm.ca/tpug/) says they're the
_second_ oldest Commodore club.
Impressive!
I thought this might make a fun thread. So
who's older? Are there any older
clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel computers are so generic
and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
DECUS?
-Dave McGuire
20 Apr
20 Apr
4:36 a.m.
The chinese ABBACUS-group might be a contender ;=)
Sipke de Wal
---------------------------------
http://xgistor.ath.cx
----- Original Message -----
From: Merle K. Peirce <at258(a)osfn.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Cc: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 4:10 AM
Subject: Re: Longest running user group in history?
IWUG?
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Dave McGuire wrote:
> On April 19, Mark Gregory wrote:
> > Last night, I attended the 175th monthly meeting of the Amiga Users of
> > Calgary. That didn't seem like much until I did the math; that's 14.5
years
> > of meetings (!), and probably more given
that for the past few years
> > they've taken two of the summer months off. It got me wondering which
users
> > group holds the record for longest
continuous operation, where members
> > actually attend meetings at a regular interval. I know that the Toronto
PET
> > Users Group, which is still active, has been
running since 1978.
> > Interestingly, their Website (http://www.icomm.ca/tpug/) says they're the
> > _second_ oldest Commodore club.
>
> Impressive!
>
> > I thought this might make a fun thread. So who's older? Are there any
older
clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel
computers are so generic
and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
DECUS?
-Dave McGuire
22 Apr
22 Apr
11:47 p.m.
I thought this
might make a fun thread. So who's older? Are there any older
clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel computers are so generic
and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
DECUS?
23 Apr
23 Apr
9:46 a.m.
Is that the IBM users' group? Could they be the oldest?
On Sun, 22 Apr 2001, Kevin Schoedel wrote:
SHARE, started in 1955, still exists.
--
Kevin Schoedel
schoedel(a)kw.igs.net
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
I thought this might make a fun thread. So who's
older? Are there any older
clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel computers are so generic
and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
DECUS? 
26 Apr
26 Apr
1:16 a.m.
Merle K. Peirce wrote:
Is that the IBM users' group? Could they be the
oldest?
On Sun, 22 Apr 2001, Kevin Schoedel wrote:
> >> I thought this might make a fun thread. So who's older? Are there any
older
> >> clubs still active? And isn't it sad that Wintel computers are so
generic
> >> and boring that people don't form user's groups anymore?
> >
> > DECUS?
>
> SHARE, started in 1955, still exists.
Aargh, upside-down quoting. Yes, that's the IBM user's group.
It's pretty easy to list the institutions of the era, so all we have to do
is see if any of them started user groups that still exist. :) I can think
of these right away:
US: University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Princeton, Iowa State University
(all built computers). MIT (an early user if not a builder). Some part of
the military or government. Unisys (or whatever is the descendant of
the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation). AT&T and Bell Labs.
UK: Manchester, Cambridge. Bletchley Park, NPL, some part of the millitary
or government. Ferranti, ICL, Powers-Samas (I guess they're all ICT now).
I don't know about other countries.
If you count professional societies, the ACM was founded in 1947 (!?).
Does anyone know of older ones?
-- Derek
8425
days inactive
8432
days old
5 comments
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participants (5)
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at258＠osfn.org -
dpeschel＠eskimo.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
schoedel＠kw.igs.net -
sipke＠wxs.nl