BMUG Reunion
Monday, January 26, 2009 at 10:56PM 
In the earliest days of personal computing users had to fend for themselves. Computer companies were too small, or too indifferent, to support individual users. So we huddled together, supporting each other through the trials and vicissitudes of PC ownership, in something called "user groups."
I remember traveling to Berkeley of a Thursday evening for meetings of one of the biggest, best, and most unruly of the user groups, BMUG: the Berkeley Macintosh User Group. I didn't go to every meeting, but I always enjoyed the unruly atmosphere, the feisty treatment of the company marketeers who dared address the group, and the Chinese dinners afterward. I even left them my Mac BBS, MacQueue, when I took it down in 1986.
BMUG hasn't met in years, but one of its stalwarts, Raines Cohen, is planning a reunion in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Mac's release. This is one party I wouldn't want to miss.
BMUGgers unite for one (last?) Thursday meeting, this Thursday at the Hillside Club in Berkeley. RSVP on Facebook or at upcoming.yahoo.com. I hope to see you there!
Reader Comments (5)
Being a Mac user (1992?Mac lc) I hunted for such groups in our area,Wilmington,De.There was a local MUG and several in the Philly area but being a little shy I never went to such a meeting.
I believe that Bmug put out a large paperback yearbook with several Mac stories and a CD with many Mac Apps(yes even then)and I copied many which helped fill the tiny drive in that machine.
Have a great time Leo.
What exactly is BMUG?
IM a PC user myself and prefer them over MAC any day
Click on the second link in this list- it'll tell you all about BMUG.
http://snipurl.com/awtis" rel="nofollow">http://snipurl.com/awtis
WOW old school
Apple maintains a locator for your local Macintosh User Group(s):
http://www.apple.com/usergroups/" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/usergroups/
BMUG was The Berkeley Macintosh Users Group, one of the earliest Mac user groups, and at one time the largest. It is now defunct.
BMUG was wonderful. There was a call-in Helpline, a huge "newletter" that was the size of a small telephone book, meetings where the best developers showed their products (and got lots of feedback, both good and bad), an international e-mail discussion list with a Mac-like interface, etc.
Those were the days.