Re: The Delphi Survey
- From: Brian Moelk <bmoelk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:47:51 -0500
Bob Dawson wrote:
Shouldn't that make backward compatibility /more/ important? Not sure I see
the coherence of the argument for single source across, for example, win32
and Linux, but not for win32 and .NET.
Not really; the devil is in the details. The nature of .NET development
is very different from native code development. IMO, there is more
capacity and bigger gain for code compatibility with Linux than there is
for code compatibility with .NET. The way development is done on Win32
is similar to the way development is done on Linux: no GC, no runtime,
no large standard library, etc. This isn't the case with .NET; .NET is
very different from Win32.
Certainly abstracting away low-level OS issues is not trivial, and it
was probably easier to provide VCL for .NET than it was to support the
RTL/CLX for Linux.
The difference is that the RTL/CLX offers something on Linux that isn't
available in other tools and is portable between Windows and Linux.
Hence it's a differentiator. .NET's FCL is available from many tools
and makes the code dependent on .NET. Hence, it's the same as other
products.
It's also different because .NET, without Mono support, is a Windows
only technology. This means that there is no inherent business
advantage to porting code from Win32 to .NET. But there is inherent
business advantage to be able to deploy to Linux. The only reason to go
to .NET is to leverage the FCL itself, which is fine, but it's not an OS
deployment advantage, but more like an extension of Windows services.
The final difference is that good Linux support also has the ability to
bring new developers into the community. I don't believe Delphi's .NET
offering has anything for new developers seeking to develop in .NET; IMO
it makes more sense to just use VS.NET.
Code compatibility is only beneficial when that compatibility enables a
significant business advantage and differentiates the product. IMO,
there is little advantage to code compatibility between Win32 and .NET,
but a good deal of advantage between Win32 and Linux. IMO, Delphi could
increase the value of their advantage with .NET by officially supporting
Mono.
--
Brian Moelk
Brain Endeavor LLC
bmoelk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
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