Re: Borland Layoffs?

From: David Erbas-White (derbas_at_arachneering.com)
Date: 12/27/03 

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:31:15 -0800

Wayne Niddery [TeamB] wrote:

> Olivier Beltrami wrote:
>
>>I think Borland is spreading itself too thin in areas where its
>>expertise does not lie. All these purchases reming me of the early
>>90's (DBase, Quattro Pro, ...). Borland has always mad great
>>programming tools, but the record when trying to enter different
>>markets is not so good.
>
>
> Apples and oranges. Dbase, Quattro, etc were a completely *different* market
> than compilers and IDEs with practically no overlap in customer base. ALM
> tools *compliment* Delphi, JBuilder, etc and make these tools *more* usable
> and more valuable. The customer base is *strongly* overlapped and will
> contribute to increasing the customer base for all of these tools.
>
> You need to understand that this is literally the opposite of your stated
> perception - if Borland were to *not* embrace and make a name for themselves
> in the area of ALM tools they would very quickly be left behind by (at
> least) IBM and MS and be relegated as strictly a niche player - if they
> could survive at all. Not only are ALM tools important for *all* developers,
> they are key to ensuring continued and increasing success for Borland -
> which is the *only* way for your to be able to continue getting new versions
> of Delphi into the future.
>

Let's turn the question around.

If all of these ALM tools were so 'necessary' to (for example) Delphi
developers, wouldn't it be in Borland's best interest to take their
existing base of Delphi customers and 'convince them' of the necessity
of using those tools? After all, Delphi users are great evangelists,
and if you can sell them on the 'need' for ALM tools, they would be a
great boon towards spreading the word, would they not?

 From some of the comments made here in this forum (and others), it
appears that some attempt was made to do this at the last BorCon, but it
also seems that the response of the Delphi developers was to 'tune out'
during those portions of the presentations, while waiting to hear the
'meat and potatoes' part that they were really interested in.

So, let's hear from some Delphi developers that are actually using some
of Borland's ALM tools. What will they give the small developer that is
worth spending the thousands of dollars that those tools cost?

I would point out, by the way, that (IMHO) the reason some of these
tools are so pricey is because the market for them is relatively
limited. In other words, the cost/benefit for using them really only
works for a larger corporation, thus fewer companies buy them, thus the
per-unit cost is higher. Conversely, the per-unit cost being higher is
what has drawn Borland into this marketplace. But to argue that these
tool benefit the small developer, without giving a strong and valid
argument for the cost/benefit analysis as it affects the small
developer, seems a bit facetious. And as stated, it would seem that if
the small Delphi developer shops were using these tools, you would hear
them (loud and strong!) proclaiming the need to use these tools.

David Erbas-White

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