What is a Users’ Group?
Basically, a users’ group is a social network from before the days of social networks. They involve people meeting to discuss and celebrate a certain type of technology. The earliest known example is SHARE, an IBM users’ group begun by aerospace employees in 1955. In the 1970s, computer users’ groups served as free tech support.Users’ groups are usually organized with regular meetings, conferences, newsletters, and more. Today, the most frequent bases for computer users’ groups are operating systems, whether open-source or commercial. Members of users’ groups take great pride in their community, which you can see from a look at any CUG’s website. If you want to meet great people and celebrate technology, whether current or obsolete (certain users’ groups are based around historical systems), we recommend finding a users’ group near you. It’s well worth the effort to meet friends with the same interests that you do.