Major Changes Mark The Evolution of the AppleWorks and iWork Users Groups

One of the most influential organizations in the Mac User Group community has announced some major changes in their structure and offerings.

As reported on both the AppleWorks Users Group (AWUG) and on the successor organization iWork Users Group (iWUG) web sites, the groups will be closing their offices on January 31, 2008, and ceasing publication of their trademark publication, The AppleWorks Journal with the January 2008 issue.

Citing significant declines in membership and the Apple’s position on the future (or lack of) for AppleWorks, the group will be refunding the unearned portion of membership fees to their members.

The other component of AWUG/iWUG’s offerings that will be affected by the changes is their “Members Helping Members” program. Without the administration to coordinate the program, AWUG’s leadership is encouraging their membership to continue their relationship with the volunteers who have provided support, making the interaction less formal but more in line with today’s social networking models.

These changes do not mean that the AWUG or iWUG presences will be going away, but rather, are evolving. The web sites will remain online, maintained by volunteer Tim Harrison. The extensive AppleWorks and iWorks Public Domain libraries, the fruit of 16 years of membership contribution and group development, will also remain online and available to visitors. As with all MUG web sites, they are expected to evolve over time, based on user’s and volunteer’s interests and resources.

The AppleWorks/iWork News Service will also continue to be an important source of news about both programs, and the groups’ forums will be an online destination for anyone interested in learning and getting more out of both program suites. For users not familiar with forum use, the groups are publishing a two-part series of articles in the December and January issues of The AppleWorks Journal to help ease the transition.

The groups are liquidating their stock of CDs and other products, and moving the applicable content to the web sites.

More details on the evolution can be found on both the AWUG and iWUG web sites (click on the “News, Specials & PD Update” link to find the information in a Question-and-Answer formatted article).

We congratulate the leadership of the groups for an orderly, business-like and well thought-out transition to a more online, modern and workable model that looks to marry the best of the past with the possibilities of the future.