The Boston Computer Society (usually called "BCS") was an organization of personal computer users, based in Boston, Massachusetts. The organization was founded by a thirteen year old boy named Jonathan Rotenberg in 1977, and grew to become the largest such organization in the world., with over 30,000 members in all 50 U.S. states and 40 other countries. At its peak in the late 1980's, BCS supported more than 75 different user and special interest groups and held more than 150 monthly meetings. Nickname: Location in Massachusetts, USA Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Suffolk County Settled 1630 Incorporated (city) 1822 Government  - Governor Deval Patrick (D) Area  - City  89. ...

Apple Computer Corp., Lotus Software and IBM made major product announcements at BCS meetings. For example, Apple made the East Coast introduction of the Apple Macintosh at a BCS meeting in 1984. The BCS magazine was called "Update". Apple Inc. ... Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) is an American software company with its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... IBM redirects here. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ...

There were a myriad of user groups meeting monthly with their own paper newsletters, such as the Social Impact group.

Much of the promotional and support role played by the organization became obsolete with the growing sophistication of computer users, and the growth of the Internet as an alternate source of information.

Membership shrank to 18,000,^[1] they ran out of money, and BCS closed in October 1996.

References

1. ^ "Logging off: Boston Computer Society to fold," Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe, September 12, 1996

External links

• Farewell page, including letters from the BCS Board of Directors and the Executive Director of the club, explaining the decision to close.