Users' group

DECUS, the DEC User's Society, was founded in 1961 and its descendant organization, Connect Worldwide, still operates.

The Computer Measurement Group (CMG) was founded in 1974 by systems professionals with a common interest in (mainframe) capacity management, and continues today with a much broader mission.

Users' groups began to proliferate with the microcomputer revolution of the late 1970s and early 1980s as hobbyists united to help each other with programming and configuration and use of hardware and software.

A users' group may provide its members (and sometimes the general public as well) with one or more of the following services: Users' groups may be organized around a particular brand of hardware (e.g., Mac), software and operating systems (e.g. Linux), or more rarely may be dedicated to retro systems (e.g., Apple II).

Computer user groups may consist of members who primarily use a specific operating system, such as Linux.