Re: Lino and Delphi

Ralf Mimoun wrote:
>
> I fully agree. But: if a small developer get the feeling that 90% of
> the resources went to the "enterprise" features of Delphi, and only
> 10% to the stuff that helps him to be faster, he might decide that
> the new Delphi version is nothing he should invest in.

Looking back over the last 10 years, many features that started out in the
premium SKU have migrated down to lower SKUs as new premium features have
been introduced. So while premium purchasers get such features first,
customers of lower SKUs end up getting some of them at no extra cost with a
near-future upgrade (one or two versions usually).

Higher revenues selling premium SKUs also go a long way to funding
development of more new features.

> What I, personally, don't need (or better,
> can't use) is .Net, ECO, UML. Every single dollar Borland invested in
> these areas might be well spent for Borland or large customers. But
> on my desk, there is only a "it helps to let Delphi shine for the big
> guys" factor. Yes, there are enhancements I could use, but I can't
> spend my money for that.

But this varys greatly from developer to developer. I'm a single man shop
(technically I have a partner but he's currently pursuing other interests).
But I *do* use UML to help design projects, I've used Starteam for years
(long before Borland bought it) and I'm in the process of arranging a new
client to purchase CaliberRM so we can properly do requirements (in this
case with the added, but not exclusive, reason that the FDA requries a
validated requirements process).

When I bought Starteam 2.1 many years ago for just myself, it was ~$800
IIRC. A client I recommended it to forked out about $7500 for 5 users in
1999. Because Borland now owns Starteam, Delphi purchasers get a personal
license at no extra cost. That's real savings. CaliberRM, under Borland, now
costs somewhere around a 10th of what it cost a few years ago - bringing it
into the affordable level of a lot more developers - it is no longer only
the huge companies that can afford these tools.

One reason for that is precisely because Borland has a *portfolio* of
products, not just one or two. That allows for a lot of efficiencies that a
one-product company *cannot* attain, a lot of overhead shared by all the
products. Just as StarBase, as a separate company, had to charge several
times more for their products, so a separate "Delphi" company will also have
to charge much more to be able to come anywhere near being able to stay in
business and continuing to develope the product.

--
Wayne Niddery - Logic Fundamentals, Inc. (www.logicfundamentals.com)
RADBooks: http://www.logicfundamentals.com/RADBooks.html
SpaceShipOne; GovernmentZero


.

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