Longest running user group in history?

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_eskimo.com>
Date: Thu Apr 26 00:16:27 2001

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
Received on Thu Apr 26 2001 - 00:16:27 BST