A Macintosh User Group (MUG) is a

users' group A users' group (also user's group or user group) is a type of club focused on the use of a particular technology, usually (but not always) computer-related. Overview Users' groups started in the early days of mainframe computers, as a way to sh ...

of people who use

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

computers made by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

or other manufacturers and who use the

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

operating system (OS). These groups are primarily locally situated and meet regularly to discuss Macintosh computers, the Mac OS,

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

and

peripherals A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

that work with these computers. Some groups focus on the older versions of Mac OS, up to Mac OS 9, but the majority now focus on the current version of Mac OS,

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

Activities

Macintosh user groups are independent organizations that elect their own leaders, develop and present topics at group meetings, schedule special events, frequently have a newsletter and/or web page, and other activities. MUGs generally have an affiliation with

, which maintains a User Group Advisory Board consisting of MUG officers and members, who advise Apple on user group matters and relationships. Apple also maintains a MUG locator service on their website. MUGs may be community groups, government agencies, corporations, schools, universities, online, professional organizations, or software specific. Another website, the MUG Center, provides a variety of resources to MUGs and Mac users, including a comprehensive list of links to MUG websites. Users' groups have been around since the early days of Apple, when computers were often just kits and the user groups met to learn how to put the computers together. Many early users' groups were Apple user groups that became MUGs when Apple started the

line of computers in 1984. The following is a 2005 listApple User Group Locator, Maintenance Team Lead, Apple Inc., 2005 from the Apple User Group Locator of 19 still active MUGs that had initial meeting dates in 1975 - 1978 (note that these MUGs supported Apple products prior to the Macintosh computer line with original meeting dates that predate the Macintosh computer line):
Apple Computer Information & Data Exchange of Rochester, Inc.

Apple Corps of Dallas

Apple Macintosh Users Group (Sydney)

Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange

AppleRock

AppleSiders of Cincinnati

Apple Squires of the Ozarks

Apple Users' Society of Melbourne (AUSOM Inc)

Charlotte Apple Computer Club

Colorado Macintosh User Group

The Northwest of Us Macintosh User Group Chicago, Northwest

Dallas Macintosh Users Group

Denver Apple Pi

Houston Area Apple User Group

Louisville Apple Users Group

Macintosh User Group of the Southern Tier

Maryland Apple Corps., Inc.

North Orange County Computer Club, MacIntosh SIG

Pennsylvania Macintosh User Group

The Michigan Apple

The Minnesota Apple Computer User Group

Washington Apple Pi, Ltd.
MUGs exploded in size in the 1980s and were a primary method of distribution of

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

and shareware software. Many MUGs had a "Disk-of-the-Month" and large newsletters for members. Computer hardware and

companies found MUGs to be a valuable place to provide information about their products. They were often speakers at MUG meetings. While many of these companies still speak at MUGs, the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

has replaced many of the tools of information and software access that were not as available to the public prior to the late 1990s. Many MUGs have had to reinvent themselves to focus on tools a MUG can better provide, mostly focusing on education and/or hands on experiences. Today's MUGs are generally smaller, but have had some revitalization with the increased popularity of Apple Inc. products in the mid-2000s. Another educational competitor to MUGs has been Apple Inc.'s retail stores. Apple Inc. provides customers with professional assistance through their

Genius Bar The Genius Bar is a technical support service provided by Apple Inc. inside Apple Stores to support the use of its products and services. The locations provide concierge-style, face-to-face support for customers from "Geniuses" who are specially t ...

at Apple retail stores. The largest MUG was the

Berkeley Macintosh Users Group The Berkeley Macintosh Users Group, or more commonly "BMUG", was the largest Macintosh User Group. It was founded in September 1984 by a group of UC Berkeley students including Reese Jones and Raines Cohen as a focal-point for the nascent Apple ...

, closely followed by the Macintosh

SIG Sig used as a name may refer to: * Sig (given name) *Sig, Algeria, a city on the banks of the Sig River *Sig Alert, an alert for traffic congestion in California, named after Loyd Sigmon *Sig River, a river of Algeria also known as Mekerra sig (l ...

of the

Boston Computer Society The Boston Computer Society (BCS) was an organization of personal computer users, based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., that ran from 1977 to 1996. At one point, it was the largest such group in the world, with regular user group meetings, many pub ...

, and a friendly rivalry between the two groups energized both throughout the 1990s.

References

External links

Apple's User Group page

MUG search page

Blog for Apple's User Group Advisory Board, Sandy Foderick - editor, Tom Piper - Vendor Relations

The MUG Center

{{iOS Computer clubs User groups Macintosh platform Macintosh websites Apple Inc. user groups

Activities

See also

References

External links