Re: where will the action be ?
- From: "Brian Moelk" <bmoelk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 11:43:37 -0400
> > if Borland has made one mistake, it has been trusting Microsoft on
future
> > platforms too much.
>
> I really do not see this the way you do.
I agree. I don't think Borland has been too trusting of Microsoft on future
platforms. What they haven't done recently, IMO is done a significantly
better job implementing development tools. They just aren't kicking as much
ass as they did before.
> What do you think Borland should have done - a few years ago, armed with
> different information, not committed to .net?
>
> How seriously do you think they'd be taken in the market, and where would
> they be now?
Yeah, I think they had to commit to dotNET; there's not much of a choice
there. IMO, the Delphi for .NET implementation is wanting and was actually
too late. I won't mention the "C" word which, IMO, has a cleaner
implementation. <g>
> I think the right thing then (unfortunately, because it was a lot of
> resources tied up in this) was to dance to MS's tune and do Delphi/VCL.NET
IMO, Delphi for .NET shackles Borland with "golden handcuffs". They have to
protect their existing customer base so backward code compatibility is
important for them, however dotNET is a different platform. And as with
every new/different platform, dotNET can be exploited in a more optimal way
if you break the Win32 paradigm.
A reasonable argument is that ECO is doing just that and I can agree with
that to a certain extent. FMPOV, it's the *only* real competitive advantage
for Borland on dotNET. The problem is that it's only available in the
architect sku and thus out of reach for "the masses" so at the lower levels
VS.NET is the better choice.
Here's a crazy idea that I haven't thought through: eliminate the Architect
sku and roll ECO in the Enterprise sku and see how many people upgrade from
Pro. Oh, and also include the runtime source for ECO. Just like the VCL.
An ECO-lite idea for Pro is also a really good idea.
In some respects developing a native 64-bit compiler product before Windows
64-bit was released would have been a bit silly. The Linux market is not
nearly big enough to support a native 64-bit Kylix compiler; it's not big
enough to support a 32-bit Kylix. :)
However, I do think a 64-bit compiler would be a very, very good thing for
Borland. It would push Delphi, the language, squarely back into the fold of
a reasonable, viable C++ alternative which is exactly where it should be
IMO.
Ideally, if Borland had enough resources, it would have been great to
develop a native 64-bit compiler while building the .NET stuff.
Unfortunately based on the slipping schedules of the Delphi for .NET
development (IIRC Delphi 8 intended to have included Win32 stuff in the same
IDE), it is clear to me that Borland didn't have enough resources or they
chose to allocate those resources elsewhere. I would have loved to see this
native 64-bit compiler included in D2005 like the .NET preview compiler was
in D7.
Regardless, I believe the time has come when Borland must produce a native
64-bit compiler or Delphi will die.
> . . and the right thing now is to give themselves more options and do a
new
> VCL for native Win 32/64 that supports unicode controls, more RTTI /
> reflection (so ECO can be ported to native Win 32/64), etc.
Unicode for the VCL is very important.
I think one of the biggest issues with ECO on Win32 is the VCL's TDataset
architecture and the data binding stuff. A huge barrier of entry to BOLD on
Win32 was the incompatibility with existing and 3rd party UI elements. I'd
like to see Borland fundamentally change the TDataset architecture to enable
this.
The RTTI stuff, I think, is ok as it is; I don't think you can really push
that more unless you have a VM...but I could be wrong about that.
> And, since Borland don't often announce their research plans till things
are
> near the end and definite, maybe this is what they are looking at now.
Yes, and that's a whole different issue altogether. ;)
> IIRC, they didn't announce they were doing Delphi.net till they'd spent
> quite some time on it already, and 'everyone' was screaming for it.
Agreed...and they were right in screaming for it, just as those advocating
native 64-bit are right too.
--
Brian Moelk
bmoelk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.brainendeavor.com
.
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