Re: Latest information on Octane and Delphi

From: Kristofer Skaug (ya.ierfgnf_at_thnxf.x)
Date: 10/04/03 

Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2003 17:21:50 +0200

"Rudy Velthuis (TeamB)" wrote
>
> Is the embedding so important to you, or the updates to the compiler? I
> think both are orthogonal.

New IDE features are important to me. Extensions to the VCL and the RTL are
important to me.
Compiler updates are not so important, I am quite happy with the Delphi
language as of D6.

> I have no idea what you mean with the responsiveness of QC. Do you mean
> the amount of issues for D7 that have been opened,

I mean the amount of QC reports for D5/6/7 that have been opened, FIXED in
an update and then closed.
QC has been available for 1 1/2 years now: I've personally submitted more
than 60 reports, most of which are feature requests that I would have hoped
to see in a next Win32 version of Delphi. However, seeing that Octane will
now be .NET-only, and Octane has swallowed nearly all of Borland's resources
for the past 2 years (since D6), it seems very unlikely that I will get my
wishes fulfilled.

> > http://tinyurl.com/pow8
>
> But you didn't know if any of these suggestions would be in either
> compiler or IDE anyway, not even before the newest Open Letter.

Sure - but if Borland isn't planning to put any QC suggestions into their
Delphi product, why do we bother using QC?
If I were Borland, and had just taken the (difficult) decision to prioritize
.NET over Win32, I would for sure invest the resources required for new cool
features in the newest product (Delphi.NET), and *not* into an old product
(Delphi32) that is about to be retired anyway. Like I said previously,
Delphi32's last chance for a life expectancy boost was to entangle it with
Octane, sharing the development costs of its younger brother.

> It has been delayed, not obliterated, or "stabbed in the heart".

So why can't they be straight with us and just say there will be a major
Delphi 8 release for Win32?
They don't need to quote specific new features: just tell us, will there be
more goodies for Win32 or not?
I'm convinced that's not such a hard thing for them to predict.

And with this conviction, I'm equally fearful that the reason why they're
not openly predicting another major Delphi32 release is because they don't
think there's going to be one. Until Borland says something more specific,
this will be my interpretation.

> Even the open letter states that Borland knows that people
> will still be doing a lot of Win32 development.

... and telling us to please use Delphi 7 for this purpose. Bah.

Kristofer

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The New Roadmap
    ... C# and Chrome don't have these issues because they don't have Win32 ... between different versions of the compiler and in both Win32 and .Net ... The question was "What's better in Delphi for .NET than C# or Chrome?", ... Forward migration of WinForms projects works ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Informal Poll --- 100K to 1M Sale
    ... C++ Win32 Development ... Same user interface as Delphi ... New Project Manager features ... Application Lifecycle Management integration ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Delphi programmers are conservative
    ... .NET is not a runtime library, its a platform. ... Win32 is a runtime library too. ... runners' went to delphi because of its fast development and native ... There would already be a 64-bit compiler, ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Win32 Changes Spacely -> Highlander
    ... I simply wanted clarification on how new features and updates will work when individual personalities each get multiple product updates a year now. ... I've always only used the pro level, Win32 features of Delphi and BDS, and I'm happy to get back to that sort of product. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: The New Roadmap
    ... I think it's because Highlander focuses on .NET and will be the first ... spent considerable time on native Win32, when the two most recent releases ... They can NEVER get enough - or the right - updates and new features in any ... and it seems to me the majority of Delphi purchasers' desires -- is ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)