SILICON COAST COMPUTER GROUP

The Coast PC Users Group (CPCUG) grew out of another coastal computer organization, the Internet Access Group (IAG) which was formed in July 1994. The IAG contacted every computer owner it could find between Stewart's Point and Point Arena, forming a cadre of folks interested in -- surprise -- gaining local toll-free access to the Internet. There were a lot of Macintosh users among the hundred or so people contacted, and their well organized users group (the Redwood Coast Mac Users Group, or RCMUG) impressed the PC using members of the IAG enough to begin a users group of their own. The first CPCUG meeting was on September 15, 1994. The IAG dissolved early in 1995 when its job was done and access to the Internet via a local phone call had become a reality.

In October 1998, the name of the organization was changed to Silicon Coast Computer Group (SCCG). This change was instigated by the world-wide publicity giving the Mendonoma Coast the nick-name "Silicon Coast". This sobriquet first appeared in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner and was picked up by newspapers from coast to coast including the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and others. Television news specialists from Denmark and Taiwan have scheduled trips to the area to document its new name. The new name also reflects the acknowledgement that technology has, in great measure, eliminated the differences between computing platforms making the interests of this group of interest to a broader range of computer users.

Goals & Accomplishments

SCCG's goals are simple: to bring together computer owners in such a way as to make use of their PCs easier, more productive, more interesting, and more fun. To accomplish these goals, we try to share knowledge and skills with one another, sponsor meetings and presentations designed to interest the whole group, and encourage "special interest groups" (SIGs) to meet separately about -- another surprise -- their special interests, whether basic, intermediary, or advanced. This World Wide Web homepage, and SCCG's bimonthly newsletter, are designed to help reach our goals.