What Happened on August 22nd

IBM Model 704
IBM Model 704
 
The First Computer User Group Is Founded

Following a Los Angeles symposium hosted by IBM, a group of representatives from seventeen groups that had ordered the IBM 704 mainframe computer met at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California. The outcome of the meeting was the first computer user's group, SHARE. The name was chosen to promote the idea of sharing information and programs between installations. The group grew quickly, eventually producing new software and documentation for their IBM computers.