Anonymous, MacWorld Expo. Describes the 1985 MacWorld expo. Published in EBMUG Newsletter (February 1985), 2-3.
Bernard Aboba, Once More, With Feeling: The State of User Groups Today. Surveys the current state of user groups. " Things in the Macintosh World have changed a great deal since the beginning, and... User Groups must therefore change as well.... What is needed, it seems to me, is a State of the MUGdom address. Till that arrives, let's hope this article is a proper substitute." Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), 35-38.
Ray Badowski, The Plan of St. Gall. Uses a quirky citation in Doug Clapp's Macintosh! COMPLETE to the medieval Plan of St. Gall as a jumping-off point to argue for a certain humanistic perspective behind the design of the Macintosh. "I would expect praise for something like this type of literary effort to come from an early Macintosh zealot. Could there be a correlation between "Macintosh people"... and the ability to appreciate the arts and humanities? We've all read the stories of the sneakers, the T-shirts, and the avant garde atmosphere surrounding the Mac's development. Very atypical, and unprofessional in some people's eyes. Yet, in order for something as well thought out as the Macintosh user interface to have been developed, there had to have been some very human things, some very artistic things going on." Published in The DeskTop Journal 10 (Winter 1986), 2.
Raines Cohen, Stephen Howard, The State of the User Group. "We're still trying to figure out exactly what BMUG's Philosophy is, and whether there is such a creature. We know this much: it has its roots in The Hacker Ethic and Berkeley Radicalism, as well as in the jaded cries of computer users we represent." Published in BMUG Newsletter (Fall/Winter 1987), 15.
Paul Danish, A Tribute to Apple's STAR Marketing. Comparison of the Xerox Star, Lisa, and Macintosh, prompted by a display of the three at the 1984 Rocky Mountain Computer Fair. After discussing the cost and features of each, the article concludes with a critique of Xerox's marketing strategy that highlights the belief that the Macintosh is an egalitarian, people's computer: "What outrages me is that Xerox took a technology that was so manifestly designed to make the computer accessible and-- whether out of short-sightedness or out of greed-- marketed it in a way all but guaranteed to make it shrivel and wither." Published in Club Mac News (November 1984), 49-51.
Paul Danish, The LaserWriter: Stop the Presses, A Revolution is About to Explode!. On the revolutionary potential of the LaserWriter and desktop publishing: "The... typographic and illustrative tools that publishers have literally used to start wars and topple governments will now be available to anyone with a Macintosh and a laser printer." Published in Club Mac News (March 1985), 27-28.
Stephen Howard, An Introduction to BMUG. Describes the Berkeley Macintosh User Group (BMUG) and its activities. Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), 3-5.
Stephen Howard, The Cult of the Mac and the New. A quirky, occasionally rhapsodic piece describing the cult of the Macintosh, this essay is illuminating as an example of the kinds of flights of fancy and imagination the Macintosh inspired in its most devoted early users. Warns that "Just for fun, imagine that this piece of hallucinogenic prose was written by a rhetoric major on caffeine during finals." Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), 248-250.
Reese Jones, BMUG After One Year. Co-founder Reese Jones' reflections on the state of BMUG after one year. "Th[e] excessive demand for the types of services BMUG provides suggests various things about the computer industry and computer education at the University level. There is a tremendous need for a source of objective and realistic advice to the user and to the potential computer user.... We try to provide through BMUG the information that we wanted to find out for ourselves, but couldn't, without help." Published in BMUG Newsletter (Fall 1985).
Ted Jones, The Ultimate BMUG Thursday Night... and You Are There. This excellent exercise in "virtual witnessing" is an account of a semi-typical BMUG meeting. It includes a description of the proceedings of meetings, the contributions of core members Reese Jones, Raines Cohen, and Linda Custer, and the group's reactions to product demos. It also includes a hilarious account of an IBM fan doing a take-off of the famous "1984" commercial. Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), 248-250.
Scot Kamins, Introduction[to SF Apple Core]. Scot Kamins describes founding SF Apple Core. Published in Ken Silverman, ed., The Best of Cider Press 1978-1979 (San Francisco Apple Core, 1979).
Louise Kohl, The Bottom Line. Charts the development of the Macintosh as a business machine, and the implications of its entry into corporate America for Apple's relations with hobbyists and independent programmers. Argues that "Apple has made one consistent mistake all along the way; and continuing to make it could jeopardize even their present success. Apple has always ignored the valuable contributions made by early and-- dare I say it?-- non-corporate users. This seems to me to be a very dangerous procedure." Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), 287-288.
Norm Mayell, Notes on the Printed Letter and its Graphic Embellishment. Surveys the state of Macintosh printing, and the potential impact of laser printing. "When you think about computer power, typesetting has been a key point of extensive technology. " Published in EBMUG Newsletter 7 (June 1985), 3-4.
Ed Seidel, What a Users' Group Ought To Be. Describes the philosophy behind the founding of the Yale Macintosh Users Group. "The mission of our group... is to explore the possibilities of the Macintosh. This process can be frustrating or impossible for the single user, but as a group our efforts can be fruitful and enjoyable. As a group we can potentially provide great benefit to everyone involved, but the key word is involved. We need to be more than just a source of public domain software (although we are that!); by getting together we can explore the Macintosh together." Published in The DeskTop Journal 3 (Winter 1984), 3.
Terry Tufts, Don Scellato, Comment Without Quote. An exchange over the issue of whether the Macintosh is an open or closed machine. Published as Terry Tufts, "Comment Without Quote" Cider Press (July 1985), 14; Don Scellato, "Open and Closed (A Response to Comment without Quote)," Cider Press (July 1985), 5.
Unknown, Guy Kawasaki and SMUG. An account of Guy Kawasaki's 1986 visit to the Stanford Macintosh User Group, one of many visits by Apple developers and officials to Bay Area user groups. Originally published in Jay Michlin, "Last Meeting," SMUG Newsletter (August 1986), p. 4-5 (M1007, Apple Computer Inc. Papers, Series 12, Box 44, Folder 12).
Unknown, User Groups and Piracy. A letter from John Agosta, then chair of the Stanford Macintosh User Group, to A+ magazine disputing their claim that SMUG engaged in software piracy. User groups tended to take strong positions against copyright infringement and software piracy, in part because they were such important distributors of freeware and shareware. Originally published in SMUG Newsletter (March 1985), 2 (M1007, Apple Computer Inc. Papers, Series 12, Box 44, Folder 10).
Unknown, LaserWriter Users' Notes. An article on the new LaserWriter laser printer. Originally published in SMUG Newsletter, 2:3 (August 1985), p. 3 (M1007, Apple Computer Inc. Papers, Series 12, Box 44, Folder 10.).
C. J. Weigand, An Exclusive Interview with Mitch Hall. Interview with Mitch Hall, organizer of the MacWorld Expo. Published in The DeskTop Journal 12 (Fall 1987), 6-7.
Zig Zichterman, Carolyn Sagami, An Introduction to BMUG. The BMUG Newsletter was one of the largest and most elaborately-produced Macintosh user group newsletters. This article describes the technical and organizational work involved in getting the BMUG Newsletter out the door. Originally published in BMUG Newsletter 4:2 (Summer/Fall 1988), xi-xiii.
Chris Espinosa, Interview with Chris Espinosa, Interview with Chris Espinosa, 13 June 2000.
Chris Espinosa, Chris Espinosa on computers in high school, Chris Espinosa discusses his involvement with computers in high school. From an interview with Chris Espinosa, 13 June 2000.
Chris Espinosa, Chris Espinosa on the Byte Shop, Chris Espinosa discusses the Byte Shop. From an interview with Chris Espinosa, 13 June 2000.
Chris Espinosa, Chris Espinosa on the Homebrew Computer Club, Chris Espinosa discusses attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. From an interview with Chris Espinosa, 13 June 2000.
Chris Espinosa, Chris Espinosa on user groups, Chris Espinosa discusses his experience with user groups, and the tensions in relationships between user groups and Apple. From an interview with Chris Espinosa, 13 June 2000.
Chris Espinosa, Complete transcript of Chris Espinosa interview, Interview with Chris Espinosa presented on a single page, rather than broken into several different pages. The content of this document is the same as found in the smaller pages.
Reese Jones, Interview with Reese Jones. Interview with Reese Jones, 22 May 2000. Reese Jones was one of several people who created the Berkeley Macintosh User Group (BMUG) in 1984; he was active in the group for several years, until the company he founded in 1985-- Farallon-- absorbed his attentions full-time. This interview discusses his pre-Macintosh experience with computers, user groups, and networking; the early response to the Macintosh; the of BMUG; and the start of the BMUG Newsletter.
Reese Jones, Reese Jones on pre-Macintosh computing. Reese Jones talks about his pre-Macintosh computer experience, and his background with computer user groups and other technology-focused groups.
Reese Jones, Reese Jones on BMUG. Reese Jones talks about the origins and early days of BMUG, and the BMUG Newsletter.
Reese Jones, Reese Jones on early reaction to the Macintosh. Reese Jones discusses the early reaction to the Macintosh.
Reese Jones, Complete transcript of interview with Reese Jones. The interview with Reese Jones presented on a single page, rather than broken into several different pages. The content of this document is the same as found in the smaller pages.
Alex Pang, Chart of Geographical Distribution of Club Mac Members, October 1984. Pie chart showing the geographical distribution of Club Mac members, October 1984. The chart shows that half of Club Mac members were concentrated in eight states, led by California, Colorado (Club Mac's home state), Texas, and Illinois.
Alex Pang, Chart of Geographical Distribution of Macintosh User Groups, 1985. Pie chart showing the geographical distribution of user groups, as reported in Club Mac Tour Guide, Spring 1985. The chart shows that 60% of user groups were concentrated in eight states, with by the largest number in California.
Unknown, Club Mac January 1985 cover. Among the most enthusiastic users of the Macintosh's graphics capabilities were the editors of Macintosh user group newsletters. This cover is from the January 1985 issue of the Club Mac News (published in Boulder, Colorado). The title bar features type in three different fonts, and a small image-- a combination that would have been nearly impossible to create before the Macintosh. The cover art, drawn in MacPaint, shows a wizard looking up from a Macintosh/crystal ball. Published in Club Mac News (January 1985), 27-28.
Unknown, Stanford Macintosh User Group cover, September 1986. Cover of the September 1986 issue of the Stanford Macintosh User Group (SMUG) Newsletter. The cover shows how more sophisticated user groups created elaborate cover art using MacPaint and laser printing.
Unknown, Stanford Macintosh User Group cover, December 1984. Cover of the December 1984 issue of the Stanford Macintosh User Group (SMUG) Newsletter. The cover illustrates the use of the Apple ImageWriter printer, and the simple "high-tech" graphics favored by some user groups.
Unknown, Stanford Macintosh User Group cover, January 1985. Cover of the January 1985 issue of the Stanford Macintosh User Group (SMUG) Newsletter. The cover uses a combination of windows and pull-down menus, imitating the Macintosh user interface.