Scotland is on the move!

Two weeks ago we had our first meeting of the Scottish Revolution User Group.  A great success, we met at a wonderful eatery, called Grape, in Edinburgh. After a few minutes of realising that none of us knew any of the others by sight, walking up to perfect strangers and saying "Revolution" fortunately failed to get us arrested and identified attendees.  I confess however, that it was a liquid meal involving some excellent brews as well as mixed drinks.  Lasting several hours, it was a great beginning.  The decision was taken to have a second meeting with a guest speaker as soon as possible.

Kevin Miller, CEO Runtime Revolution Ltd, our gracious host, told us about his plans for the Runtime Revolution user groups and asked the attendees what they wanted in return. Among the comments were the following:

John Gilligan told us about the program he first developed in HyperCard years ago and ported to Revolution, that tracks a lifetime of bird watching. He wants to have the  opportunity to meet others locally with whom he can share programming tips and even get some help on some code he is having trouble with. Could this be you? Anyone else with HyperCard conversion experience would be most welcome to show up at the next meeting.

Alex Tweedly is on his way to Australia as we speak. A former Cisco software guru, he has long been a leading light in the Revolution online community. It was a real pleasure to meet him in person, and his expertise and enthusiasm will be a huge asset to the Scottish User Group.

Kevin shares his vision of user groups and how he plans to support them. "The community is the key to our existence. We are getting closer to our users with our website activities and newsletter but there is nothing as good as face to face dialog. Not everyone can attend our conferences so hopefully user group meetings will provide a forum to learn and share and above all become friends with people who share similar interests."

He adds, "We are looking for feedback to develop this program and understand how we can best lend our support."

Marielle Lange, a long time Revolution user and participant on the forum and mailing lists was also present. Marielle has moved into custom software development after a decade of study, research and lecturing at Cambridge University and University of Edinburgh. She is especially interested in the creation of educational tools. When it comes to user groups, she welcomes any opportunity to discuss projects and code with fellow users, with a special preference for user-driven venues.

At the end of the meeting, It was decided that we should hold another meeting soon and invite all who might be in the area. With tickets from London so cheap today, there is really no reason not to spend an evening in sunny warm Edinburgh. We are now arranging the next meeting. Our plans are to have it on March 8th at the offices of Runtime.  We are working on an agenda including a guest speaker or two and there will be light refreshments. A modest £10 is asked to help defray the costs.  Each participant will receive a voucher worth £10 on their next purchase of £50 or more (ex vat) at the Rev online store.

To make things a little livelier, we will have a drawing for a £25 voucher for all attending.

While we expect that we can get everything arranged by this date, there is of course the reservation that if things don't come together we will postpone to a later date.  Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to the editor as soon as possible.