I don't agree with Delphi being better for Win32. That's like arguing VB is
better for Win32. The real argument should be whether the tool is scalable,
reliable and accessible.
I work with people using D7 and D2005. They all were amazed at the things
you can do with Lazarus and FPC on Win32. Hence the decision to start
learning Win32 development using FPC/Lazarus and not Delphi.
For many projects (even commercial ones) I think Lazarus and FPC is an
excellent choice, especially considering how much lower the startup costs is
for a new business. Most of my income is still derived from Java-based
solutions and some older C/C++ solutions. I'm busy learning Object Pascal so
that I can port some applications - and the reality is that so far I've
found nothing that I can not do with FPC/Lazarus that I really need. Sure,
some of the add-on modules do not exist yet - for instance : Right now I use
external processes to do image processing and I have to rewrite an entire
DrawGrid class to make it do what I want, but it's no big deal. The one
thing I had against D6 when I worked on it for a while was that when
something went wrong, I had no idea how to fix it because the RAD wizards
were all I knew. Lazarus and FPC forces me to LEARN the language as I go
along, which for me means that I (although it might seem slower than the
Borland RAD solution) can actually delve into the code and fix something
that I need to be different.
The Lazarus/FPC solution is a very reliable (we have the source code to
change - no vendor lock-in's) and scalable solution for me. Small business
owners are looking for ways to cut costs AND ensure that they don't get
caught with their pants down if a vendor decides to go a different route
suddenly. Who remembers the enormous price hikes in Borland software after
they became Inprise ? At one stage it was cheaper to buy Visual C++ than to
buy Delphi or BCB!
I' still using Lazarus 0.9.16 Beta and FPC 2.0.2 - and from a commercial
point of view, it's a brilliant solution. I'm sure there are some people on
this list using the product commercially and finding it a very productive
tool ?
Kind regards
Ewald Horn
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