The SDGN is a Dutch user group with quite a long history. We started somewhere around 1986 as a Clipper usergroup.  With the coming of Windows the scope broadened with Delphi, Visual Objects (the Windows successor to Clipper which never reached the fame of Clipper but has the most faithfull developers you can imagine) and MS Office. In came Microsoft and quite short after its introduction .net was added to the list. Java joined as well. We are an independent user group.

Being independent does not mean that any help from the tool vendors hurts. They provide you with first-hand information and have the contacts to get you a speaker. Both MS and Java had their thougths about the other but when it came to cooperation their attitudes were different. MS always was a great help. In the early .net days they provided everyone a free copy of Eric Gunnerson's Programmers introduction to C# (Apress), which made me an early defector from Delphi/VCL to C#/FCL. Just over a year ago the SDGN and MS together organized a big Don Box presentation. Which was great as well.

On the opposite Sun refused assitance. They favoured their own NLjug user group and would tolerate our Java group as long it didn't get big. Their main argument against us was that they didn't want to be on one (SDGN) flyer with MS. Our Java group was no big success and things threathened to escalate. The result is that we kicked out Java. Feeling sorry for the good people leaving.

All future communications will be in XML, perhaps some in Borland's Janeva. We'll continue with .net (in C# and vb flavor), Delphi in Win32 and .net flavor), VO and people doing all kinds of things from php and Dreamweaver to C++. A (still) quite inspiring diversity.

Peter