It is always fun to see new groups and new interests in the Apple User Group Locator. The CSUSB Macintosh User Group of Cal State University, Santa Barbara, is comprised of members of their information technology community on campus. Swifters – Greece College Swift Playground Group are from the University of the Aegean, a university with multiple campus sites throughout Greece. Welcome to the community!
In a little over a two weeks Apple will have its 40th anniversary, and we asked each group who responded for the name of the member who had the longest continual membership in their club. The amazing thing is that many of the names offered were founding members who still retained membership, and many are well known in our community. These people are some of the folk at the heart of why we meet. Of course, there are many more who are not listed here.
Some groups started as computer groups, others formed when the first Apple started our story. Still others formed because of a perfect joining of technologies, such as creative pros at the Adobe Technology Exchange of Southern California who found that Adobe’s graphics products and Apple’s hardware and interface opened a new possibilities. Of course, new products brought new clubs, from Warren’s AppleWorks User Group, once over 15,000 members strong, to those Powerbooks, iMacs, iOS and everything in between.
Thank you to each of the people below for helping our community create something truly special. (more…)
In a little over a two weeks Apple will have its 40th anniversary. Whenever you stepped into the Apple stream, something amazing was happening. An amazing variety of groups responded to our survey, from the Netherlands to Australia, and from folk who had been continuous members for more than 40 years to founders who started their groups 7 years ago.
Here are groups who have been meeting continuously for more than 20 years. Congrats! (more…)
In a little over a month Apple will have its 40th anniversary. You may be a long-time fan who remembers that first Apple I or even the Lisa. Perhaps your first Apple was a Mac Plus or an LC II. Whenever you stepped into the Apple stream, something amazing was happening. In 1976 the Apple II had color graphics and there was that marvelous VisiCalc. Later, the WYSIWYG interface opened up a new world for those of us enduring the challenges of DOS a command line interface. By 1985 you could combine the Apple LaserWriter with Adobe’s PageMaker and become a desktop publisher.
While the Macintosh Portable was more luggable than portable, those 1991 PowerBooks running System 7 were a joy. Over the years, your first PDA might have been a Newton, you might have photos from your first Apple Quick Take, or you may have even had a device that ran the PiPP!N platform, but when that first iMac DV and iMovie came along, it was amazing, letting home users record and edit video without the need of expensive video equipment and years of training. Logic, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, and GarageBand weren’t far behind and each gave creatives new ways to create. By 2001 we had iTunes, Apple Stores and iPods; it is hard to remember how revolutionary the iPod was in a world of boom boxes and cassette players now that the world uses iTunes for everything from music releases to podcasts to iOS apps and everything in between. In 2008? we met the iPhone and haven’t looked back. What about 2010? We got the iPad, and Apple just kept on inventing. Today we have the Apple Watch and entire feature movies filmed on iPhones. (more…)
A little over 40 years ago Apple changed our lives, and probably changed yours as well. Officers and members often talk about the user group community, and outsiders are confused: What community? How can you be friends with someone you have never met face to face? What can you truly have in common with a person from halfway around the world? Still, people such as Amaya in Spain, Graeme in New Zealand, Graham in the UK, Nicholas in Australia, Rick in Myrtle Beach, Lynn in Tulsa, Chise in Japan and so many more bring our community to life. Some user groups did not start out as Apple groups. For example, one of my first groups started out as a HAM radio club and later became an Apple group. Others started when that first Apple found its way to their hearts. Still others started because of the first Mac or creative endeavors.
How old is your group? Does your group have members who have been involved for many years? Be sure to participate in this month’s survey.
Has your group been meeting for many years? Does your group have a member or members who have participated for an amazingly long time? In light of this year’s 40th Apple anniversary, we are looking for long-standing groups and long-time members, so that we can feature these groups and members in the March edition of Apple’s User Group Bulletin and the Apple User Group Resources blog.
Your group may have started in 1976 with the first Apple, or it may have started in the ’60s as a computer enthusiast club or a technology group. Maybe yours was a Heath Kit chapter or an amateur radio club in the ’50s? Perhaps your group began as a creative pro group in the 1990s. Let us know.
Survey closes on March 12 and is limited to the first 100 responses.
MagnumMac founder Murray Wood was among the more than 140 people who lost their lives in the February 22, 2011 earthquake that devastated the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
“Murray Wood will best be remembered by members of New Zealand’s Mac User Group community as the founder of MagnumMac. He was very involved with the Christchurch group as its Patron and spent a lot of time in Wellington when he was the owner of the Wellington branch. He assisted our group in the early years of the Digital Solutions Expo and the MovieFest competition providing some of his musical talent at the prize giving ceremony in Te Papa’s Soundings Theatre.
The following is from the New Zealand Heralds web site and sums up Murray as those of us who knew him remember him.
“Murray Wood’s day job was managing director of Canterbury Television. But outside his office he would often be found hammering the keys of his piano around the garden city.
Mr Wood was one of 15 CTV staffers believed to have been killed inside their building on Madras St.
Long-time friend Robert Bijl said the father of six was an energetic and enthusiastic music lover with a big heart.
“He’s extremely kind, extremely generous, enormously talented, very dedicated to his family and he adored his wife, Nicki,” Mr Bijl said. Mr Wood was proud of his five sons and one daughter.
Mr Wood was an avid piano player and could often be found playing in gigs, at fundraisers or just for friends. Mr Bijl spent time with Mr Wood’s family and the surviving staff from CTV – who were not in the building when the quake hit – after they heard the news. “Everyone was devastated … stunned.”
One of Mr Wood’s business partners, Nick Smith, said the loss was tragic. “All I can say about Murray is he’s a real enthusiast for the industry. He’s a good guy to have around, with a good sense of humour.”
He will be greatly missed and our condolences go out to his wife and family.”
Graeme Moffatt
Apple User Group Regional Liaison for Australasia
This month’s Milestones includes the Apple Blossom Computer Club: four members started a club in 1981 and one has been a member ever since. Mexico’s iGroup is eleven years old and has grown to more than 700 on-site and online members. Happy anniversary to a worldwide list of some of our oldest and largest groups.
1977 AppleRock
http://www.applerock.org/
(Greetings to President Joan Poletti.)
1979 Apple-Q Inc
http://www.apple-q.org.au
(Congratulations to Apple-Q members.)
1981 Apple Blossom Computer Club
http://abccmug.org/
1984 dBug – Seattle Mac User Group
http://www.dbug.org
1984 North Coast Mac Users Group (CA)
http://www.ncmug.org
(Greetings to President Lorene Romero and NCMUG members.)
1984 Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society
http://www.tums.org
(Congrats to President Arthur Barber and members of TUMS)
1984 Victoria Macintosh Users Group
http://www.vmug.bc.ca
(Greetings to President Dave Traynor and VMUG members.)
1984 Yakima Area Macintosh Users (MacYac)
http://www.macyak.org
1985 Silicon Mountain Macintosh User Group
http://www.smmug.org
(Congratulations to President Richard Schafer, Webmaster Ralph Woodard, Apple User Group Board member Lynn Poos and the wonderful folk at SMMUG.)
1991 Rheintaler Macintosh User Group (REMUG)
http://www.remug.org/
(Thanks to President Martin Hilber for this tip.)
1992 Macintosh Business Users Society of Greater Philadelphia
http://www.macbus.org
(Hi to President Chris Urban, VP Irv Herzog and members.)
1999 iGroup Mexico
http://www.igroup.com.mx
(Thanks to long-time President Edgar Orduna for this tip.)
2002 AppleSeeds
http://www.apple-seeds.org/
(Thanks to President Julie Burwood for this tip.)
This month’s column includes a group who first met in 1982. Happy
anniversary to some of our oldest groups.
Want to see your group listed? Send an email with date and year to
ugbeditor@mac.com.
1982: Sierra Nevada Apple Group
(Previously Greater Reno Operating Group)
http://snag.org
(Greetings to Ambassador and former Apple User Group Advisory Board member Del Missier and members of SNAG.)
1982: San Leandro Macintosh User Group
http://www.slmug.org
1984: Apple Users Group of Canterbury Inc.
http://www.appleusers.co.nz
(Congrats to president Nigel Wood and group members.)
1984: Atlanta Macintosh Users Group
http://www.amugonline.org
(Greetings to former Apple User Group Regional Liaison Michael Henigan and the members of AMUG.)
1985: Silicon Mountain Macintosh User Group
http://www.smmug.org
(Congratulations to President Mark Griffith, Webmaster Ralph Woodard, Apple User Group Board member Lynn Poos and the wonderful folk at SMMUG.)
1989: Prescott Macintosh User Group
http://www.pmug.us/
(Thanks to Ambassador Roger Lakner for this tip.)
1990: The Mac Group – Dayton OH
http://web.me.com/tmgweb/061210/Welcome.html
(Greetings to Ambassador Mark Georges, President Bill Herrick and members.)
1993: Capitol Macintosh User Group
http://capmac.org
1996: Macintosh Users Group of Stowe
http://www.mugstowe.org
1997: Italia Mac
http://www.italiamac.com
2003: Calgary Final Cut Pro Users Group
http://www.calgaryfcpug.com
This month’s milestones include two groups who first met as early as 1978. Happy anniversary to some of our oldest groups and some newer ones too! Want to see your group listed? Send an email with date and year to ugbeditor@me.com.
1978: Maryland Apple Corps
http://www.mdapple.org
(Warm wishes to the MDAPPLE team.)
1978: The Minnesota Apple Computer User Group
http://www.miniapples.org
(Congratulations to Membership Director Les Anderson, long time Ambassador Bruce Thompson and the members of Minnesota’s Mini’app’les.)
1980: Apple-Dayton
http://www.dma.org/
1980: Rhode Island Apple Group
http://www.riapple.com/home.html
(Hi to Editor John Gentile and members.)
1985: San Gabriel Valley Mac User Group
http://www.sgvmug.org/
(Greetings to members and officers of SGVMUG.)
1991: Maui Apple Users Society
http://www.mauimac.org
(Sending warm wishes to Apple User Group Advisory Board member and MAUIMAC President Rick Ortiz, MAUIMAC Webmaster and Frontierland Pro Chris Saribay and members of MAUIMAC.)
1992: MacNorth Computer Club
http://www.macnorth.org/
(Thanks very much to Ambassador Ray Conroy for this tip.)
1995: InterMactivity
http://www.intermactivity.be/
(Congratulations to Frederik De Pauw, Algemene Coordinatie,
and members of InterMac.)
1997: MacAttorney
http://www.macattorney.com
(Greetings to UGU presenter, MacBible author and MacAttorney founder Randy Singer.)
2001: Indonesia Macintosh Society
http://www.id-mac.org
(Thanks to President Dirgayuza Setiawan – check out the group’s great intro video.)
2002: Logicuser.de, Deutschlands
http://www.logicuser.de
