Re: Captain Jake's Top Ten List of what I'd like to see in thenextversionofDelphi
- From: "Randy Magruder" <randy.magruder@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 3 Jul 2006 09:52:05 -0700
lurkio wrote:
Just what would you require to substantiate that assertion? Would the
fact that only a tiny handful (IME) of the Delphi community are even
interested in using VCL.NET persuade you ?
Not really. I could say the same about ECO. How many Delphi
developers are actively developing for ECO? Should Borland not invest
in ECO then? I see many people talk about how ECO is a cool idea, blah
blah blah, but really how many people are going beyond that and using
it right now?
What about the ongoing chronic (and not improving) lack of thirdparty control support ?
It *is* improving, just slowly, that's all. You should be able to
build a rather professional looking windows app using vcl.net
components from Woll2Woll, TMS Software and DevExpress, among others.
Maybe the fact that by the time VCL.NET has been upgraded fully
support v2.0 of .NET (at least 14 months after the fact), version 3.0
of the framework will be on our doorstep along with WPF and another
whole clutch of the latest .NET technologies that Delphi inevitably
doesn't support but the less expensive Visual Studio inevitably does ?
It sounds more like you are bashing the IDE than VCL.NET as a
technology at this point.
...and based on most current evidence, Visual Studio will be the
only game in town given the impossibility of any third party
IDE vendor offering up viable, compelling alternatives in that
space while all the time desperately spinning their wheels
attempting to keep up with the endless new technology churn from
Redmond. IMO, back in the old days, if Microsoft had owned the VCL
the way they own the FCL, Delphi would have died sometime around,
oh, let's say, 1997 at the latest.
I agree 100% that trying to 'keep up with the endless new technology
churn from Redmond' is not a winning strategy. In my opinion, the more
of a 'copycat' DevCo's tools appear to be, the faster they will
disappear from the market. I believe that the only solution is to
address .NET as a new Windows platform, and not worry so much about
things like Windows Forms. Then build best-of-breed
languages/tools/libraries for .NET that are demonstrably better and
more productive than what Microsoft is offering. I don't think that's
as hard as it sounds. For all of Microsoft's evangelizing, I have yet
to see the clear productivity gains on the windows application
development side. For instance, their FCL is so convoluted with
regard to data access that Microsoft is forced to release "Application
Blocks" that wrap best practices in order to make writing solid apps
more approachable. Why doesn't Microsoft SOLVE THE PROBLEM in the core
FCL instead of writing band-aids to deal with the fact that their best
practices are not easily 'practiced' by just using FCL out of the box?
Why do we need even more class libraries to make FCL a more productive
environment. There is a vulnerability in the complexity that Microsoft
is introducing, under the pretense of making us more productive. DevCo
needs to exploit that vulnerability and create a 'wow' factor that
Microsoft isn't.
Yes, it's true that there will be a majority of people who just
slavishly do things "the Microsoft way". but there is also room for
the mavericks who can code rings around that group because they aren't
afraid to innovate. That's a tall order, but I believe it's doable for
DevCo. The dragon's vulnerability is there, but DevCo has to get close
enough to hit it.
.NET is a dead end for Delphi. The writing is on the wall and it
has been so for way too long now. DevCo have to get off that road
and go where the beast isn't going. There are people out there
that want alternatives to .NET and these people are Delphi's natural
constituency, IMHO. Everyone else has either left or is going some
day sooner or later.
..net, like it or not, is here to stay, at least according to the
analyst reports I've seen. And with Microsoft controlling the
operating system, native code is in danger. Maybe not immedaite short
term danger, but danger nonetheless. If we follow a Windows native
code strategy only, we will deserve the label of 'extinct dinosaur' in
the not too distant future, I believe.
Randy
--
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