I agree, Not sure if many people can remember but one of the main reasons that Delphi was very popular and quick on the uptake in NZ (back with version 1) (other than product quality) was due to the fact that a lot of the educational institutions had free educational licenses, rolling out of turbo pascal and into delphi, which meant that you went through university learning these tools and continued the usage on your way out of University. The disestablishment of this model I think was the start of the end for Delphi.
On another note, remember how puzzled we were when Visual Basic was so popular even though Delphi had a superior component set ? Microsoft has always been smart with their business model, and their approach always has been to concentrate on the core functionality and let the developer community take care of the rest. Each time I hear about a Delphi for Linux version, or Apple, or all these extension projects / integration options, I cringe with frustration for what might have been if those radical thoughts had not crept in. That approach is amateurish and has no commercial basis. I applaud those on this list that have slammed Delphi/Inprise/Embarcadero for heading off on tangents. Its better to do 5 things well than 10 things poorly. Microsoft try these projects every now and then and most of them fail, but because they are a juggernaut they can sustain the failures. Delphi needs to concentrate core only, but that decision should have been made 5 years ago. A sponsored Project Jedi was the perfect avenue for extension sets for Delphi (Sandbox or Prototyping). Note Microsofts model is to let other people do the hard work, then as soon as they get good, buy them. Its more economical for them, and takes the risk out of the development project. Notice now, the majority of good component set makers for Delphi are gone, back in the day there were huge numbers. That lack of support is like oxygen that gets taken out of the whole equation, and Delphi is left suffocating. These days I use VS2008, C# and all the pains are gone. Multithreaded debugging, remote debugging, interprocess debugging, .Net 3+!!, reflection, serialization, garbage collection, better code completion and linking, the list goes on. It works! I own a company which has 2 years ago started to convert all software from Delphi to C# and expect to be Delphi free within the next 2 years. All my consultancy is C# / ASP.Net based. Delphi was the best thing out, but in my opinion has had its day. Those people that have not jumped ship yet, in my opinion are making the decision about whether customers care or not about the new rounds of features coming through and thats a risk / reward decision and one that needs to be made on a case by case basis. And don't give me the fact that you can do anything in any language, thats rubbish. It may be true, but doesn't take into account the economic viability for that time. BTW, on last point, beware also about comparing the Delphi decline to COBOL thinking you have time. There are very few similarities there other than the fact that both platforms are dying. Back 20 years ago, development was extremely slow (10 times slower than replacing a system today) so investments would take time to pay off. With COBOL, comparitive platforms were similar in construct at the time and alternatives were in the 1st and 2nd gen bracket. Nowadays you have an environment where almost every coder considers themselves an architect, and where tools (such as garbage collectors) cover developers mistakes. Development time is rapid +, and duplicating a solution is becoming easier and easier. You can databind controls with a single click (orderable, searchable, filterable grids) etc. Ease of development is leading to a resurgence in Service / Support to once again prove a competitive advantage and to ensure long term stability for Software Providers (hence the SaaS model). IMHO, if you are under 50 years of age and expect to be developing in 5 years time, and/or want to make money out of development. You need to either switch tools now (and I would switch to c# + SQL Server), or need to be multi faceted in your development approach. Let the razzing begin :) Matt. > Jolyon, sadly you are so right. Unless Embarcadero can effectively compete > with the Microsoft Express Edition Tools, they will be on a road to > nowhere! > > -----Original Message----- > From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] > On > Behalf Of Jolyon Smith > Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 4:40 PM > To: 'NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List' > Subject: Re: [DUG] What is the future for Delphi programmer? > > [[JS]] > I want to wait and see if there is a posibility to compile Delphi > [[JS]] > for iPhone and/or Android. If Embarcadero are smart enough to > [[JS]] > jump into that hugely growing niche and it eventuates then Delphi > [[JS]] > could be a killer language again. > > > I see a problem with this little fantasy. > > Just as Kylix could have been the killer language for Linux, the problem > is > in supplying a community that expects/wants/thrives on "free" or "cheap" > with a product burdened by Enterprise scale pricing. > > Inprise, sorry Embarcadero, are sadly seemingly intent on heading down > this > Road to Nowhere once more. > > e.g. when suggested that offering Delphi 2007 as an incentive to anybody > upgrading from BDS 2006 or earlier to Delphi 2010 (rather than wielding > the > threat of removal of upgrade privileges) the response was "You can get > that > already - just purchase All Access". > > > FAIL! > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: > unsubscribe > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: > unsubscribe > _______________________________________________ NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: unsubscribe
