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The History of PTC/USER

In November 1989, engineers from several Pro/ENGINEER customer sites met for the first time at PTC headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. They discussed mutual interests and needs and their efforts led to the birth of Pro/USER on January 22, 1990. Pro/USER began life as an organization to help users solve their technical challenges. It was chartered to educate, disseminate information about PTC products, and facilitate a dynamic and progressive relationship between PTC and its customers.

Jennifer Harris of NASA with the Mars Pathfinder rover at the 1998 conference

In keeping with its mission, the group held its first user meeting in June 1990 at the Dedham Hilton outside Boston. After the meeting, Pro/USER began publication of a newsletter to keep members informed about developments. The meeting grew to a three-day conference the following year with attendance doubling to 250 users. Regional User Groups (RUGs) started meeting in several locales, including Minneapolis and southern California. The first Technical Committees, teams of volunteers who advise and partner with PTC to prioritize software development activities, also began to form at this time. Over the years, the organization has grown and evolved along with PTC. New constituencies have joined the membership as a result of several corporate acquisitions by PTC, including Rasna, Computervision and many other companies and products. With the merger of the Windchill® users into Pro/USER during 2001, the group was renamed PTC/USER to reflect its expanded role in serving all customers of PTC.

PTC/USER has been a pioneer in adopting Internet technology to facilitate member communication. Our e-mail exploder, a forum for the discussion of technical issues, was placed into service in 1991. In 1994, we launched our first web site.

Today, PTC/USER serves approximately 15,000 members on six continents. Technical Committees in North America, Europe and Japan coordinate development efforts across the entire PTC product line, including both MCAD and collaborative software solutions. Over 70 regional user groups operate around the globe and the PTC/USER World Event brings all the members together for Training, Education and Networking.