IUG

The International 99/4 Users Group was a commercial venture created in 1980.

The front-man and President was Charles LaFara of Oklahoma.

Initially it used the name 99/4 Home Computer Users-Group Inc but the incorporated nature of the group was not widely publicised.

Software Exchange

A founding purpose was the exchange of programs between members, either on a 2 for 1 (later 4 for 1) or cash basis.

The Group did not make any claims to program copyright. The IUG however treated all submissions as copyright by the submitter, and therefore not to be copied by others without the submitters written consent. Submission was not treated as abandoning the writers copyright and the programs did not become public domain by the act of submission.

They did put in a great effort on cataloging the programs and treated their program descriptions and the catalog as having their copyright. The librarian was Guy Steffen Romano.

In exchange for a dual rate subscription which was introduced in 1982, members could use the library, obtain a newsletter, and receive larger or smaller discounts off commercial products.

Newsletter

An IUG Newsletter was published as follows: 1980-2 issues; 1981-8 issues; 1982-6 issues; 1983-2 issues.

Enthusiast 99

Enthusiast 99 (ISSN 0737-9013) was published from May 1983 to May/June 1984 and comprised of just seven issues, four in 1983 and three in 1984.

Bankruptcy

In 1985 the User Group was bankrupt. The IUG had net assets of $17,865.92, and after preferential creditors of $12,441.35, that left just $5424.57 to meet the winding up costs and non-preferential creditors totaling $79,390.55.

The software library was bought by the President of the Central Oklahoma 99ers User Group. At this point the programs were described as public domain, but there is no record of the submitters giving their express consent to this.

Separately, Guy Stefan Romano published a software list (as Amnion Software Library) based upon the IUG list, charging a copying fee (for media, post, packing etc) and although an initial statement had been made that programs would not be amended, at some point they were compressed (by shortening variable names and removing rem lines- which in some cases removed the authors name which initially they required in rem statements at the program start). This compression reduced the storage room required and reduced the time to save to tape- useful if someone wanted a dozen programs on cassette.