Since I was finally able to get an Internet connection, I think that was sometime in 1997, I've always been a very frequent visitor of Borland's newsgroups. It was a pleasure to to learn from others what they knew about Delphi (or C++, assembler, Java, C# etc.), programming in general and the software business. I also tried to share what I knew, and assisted people with problems as well as I could.

In November 2000, I was asked if I'd like to be a member of Borland's own TeamB. They are a group of volunteers who provide peer support on the groups. This would mean I would do what I was already doing, but now officially, and with a few privileges and tasks. It also meant much closer contact to Borland (and now, CodeGear). Of course I was happy and proud to be asked, and accepted immediately.

Because of the high degree of professionality, and because of the fact that most users of Borland/CodeGear products are a helpful bunch, these newsgroups are probably the most useful source of information for people using Borland products. There are numerous groups for each product.

But if you really want to find out more about TeamB, just subscribe to the newsgroups via the server newsgroups.borland.com (don't use your ISP's copy of the groups, since then your messages may not reach everyone). If you don't have access to NNTP where you are (e.g. because you are behind a company firewall), you can access the groups through the (unfortunately, rather awkward) web interface.

You'll soon ask yourself how you've ever managed without the groups. ;-)

N.B.: a while ago, Borland provided the more extrovert members of TeamB with a server for the TeamB blogs, which have also become a useful source of information.