写在David I来华访问前夕

Borland产品的老用户，只要上BDN(Borland Developer Network)的，都会熟悉这样一副尊容：

这个大胡子，就是Borland负责开发者社区的副总裁David Intersimone。因为Intersimone这个词不好记，社区里面习惯叫他做“David I”。当年在BDN上，该老兄的相片是在首页可以看到的；而且，隔一段时间还有他介绍社区新内容的文字。

BND是了解Borland技术资讯的重要途径，另外一个途径是Borland Newsgroup。从初学Delphi开始，我就一直在Borland Newsgroup上提问、获得回答，也尝试回答别人的问题。混Borland Newsgroup的，都熟悉Team B——这个神秘的组织，不知疲倦地为开发者提供支持，回答大家的各种问题。

现在David I要来中国访问了，迟了许多年。中国的Borland开发者社区正在被有意或无意地放弃，逐渐走向衰落。世事沧桑，令人感慨。《程序员》杂志要对David I做一个专访，孟岩问我想问什么问题，我说特别想知道Team B的一些情况。今天孟岩给我发来了David I的答复，篇幅关系，这些答复不会出现在杂志上。谢谢孟岩的访问和翻译。下面是David I关于Team B的说明：

TeamB是10多年前作为一项试验而创建的，目的是让Borland产品的高级用户回答其他用户的技术支持问题。最初的计划非常简单：确定最有经验的用户，并从中选出一些愿意共享自己知识的人员组成一个团队。然后为他们提供免费产品作为回报。让他们回答其他用户的问题。现在的teamB由各行业的各种人员组成，包括以前的大学教授、项目经理、优秀的开发人员和咨询师。Borland用户社区比以前更依赖于TeamB来获取及时、准确的问题答案。在新闻组经常会发现这样的消息，感谢TeamB解决了威胁到重要项目或任务正常进行的问题。因为TeamB成员不是Borland的员工，因此他们更能够坦言关于Borland市场表现的各方面实际的观点。包括但不限于产品开发、市场销售和支持方面。大多数TeamB成员作为开发者，他们共同关注着开发者社区。开发者社区的关注问题将通过TeamB引起Borland公司的注意。

附英文原文：

If you've ever visited Borland's newsgroups at newsgroups.borland.com, or visited the CompuServe forums dedicated to support of Borland products before the newsgroups opened, it's a foregone conclusion that you've seen posts from members of TeamB.

TeamB was created more than 10 years ago as an experiment in encouraging advanced users of Borland products to answer other users' technical support questions. The original plan was deceptively simple: Identify your most knowledgeable users. Find those among them who most enjoy sharing their know-how. Organize them into a team. Offer them free product and benefits in return for their time. Let them loose to answer other users' questions.

Today, the team is composed of a mixed group of people from backgrounds as varied as the industry itself; former university professors, project managers, hotshot developers, and consultants. More than ever, Borland's community of users depends and relies on TeamB to receive timely and accurate answers to their questions. It is not uncommon to read a message in the newsgroups thanking TeamB for solving a problem that was threatening to delay an important project or task.

Because TeamB members are not Borland employees, they tend to be outspoken with their opinions on virtually all aspects of Borland's presence in the market, including but not limited to product development, marketing, and support. Being, for the most part, developers themselves, TeamB shares the concerns of the developer community. If there is an issue of concern to the developer community, it has likely been brought to the attention of Borland by TeamB.