Re: Delphi 2008 native?

Yogi Yang 007 wrote:
Did you know that Newer version of MS Office (probably they have already done this in Office 2007. I don't have it so I don't know much about it and I am slowly switching to Open Office now that it has matured and is really usable) are come with a new .NET based automation language that is replacing VBA totally in one swoop without giving the users and Office developers a chance to migrate smoothly.

I don't have it either, but I checked the system requirements page http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101668651033.aspx for the current version of Office. There is no mention of .Net there.

While support for VBA has been dropped from the Mac version of Office 2008 (see http://www.macworld.com/article/54320/2006/12/microsoft.html) Microsoft says it won't be dropped for Windows versions (see http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2008/01/16/clarification-on-vba-support.aspx).

It appears that VSTA (see info near end of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic_for_Applications) was added to some versions of Office 2007 but only for the InfoPath program.

Microsoft has integrated VSTA into the InfoPath 2007 application,
which is part of these editions of Microsoft Office:

- Office Ultimate 2007

- Office Professional Plus 2007

- Office Enterprise 2007

If you have one of these editions of Office 2007, you'll still have
to do a bit of configuration to get VSTA working inside InfoPath.


I suspect it will be be available in the other office programs (like word, excel, and access) in future versions.

So yes, they are adding a new .Net based scripting system to Office, but they will continue to support VBA. You had me worried because I have to maintain a bunch of complex excel VBA macros. :-)

My point was that I see a lot perfectly fine software done in .Net, and lots of fine applications done in native Win32. I don't see much that mixes them both, and probably for good reason. It is more complex and much harder to get right.

I think CodeGear would have been better off to stick to Win32 for the Delphi/C++ Builder IDE, and use the .Net stuff for new products like the PHP and Ruby IDEs. Their problems all arose when they decided to combine Delphi for .Net with the Win32 Delphi IDE.

Likewise, I think they should have kept the help system separated. They should have continued to use HTML help for the Delphi and C++ Builder IDE information, and used a whatever Microsoft supplied for a separate Win32 and/or .Net help systems. I don't see any advantage to having them integrated. A developer almost always knows which of these systems they are looking for help with, and can choose the correct one. They then get help that is on topic and without all the noise about similar functions in other modules that the integrated help system produces.

I personally think chasing Microsoft in the .Net world was a waste of time and effort. CodeGear obviously didn't, probably because they saw some of their large customers jumping ship from Delphi to .Net. I wonder how many of those customers that they tried to woo back, or dissuade from leaving, actually returned or stayed because they added .Net support. Was it enough to offset the accumulated lost sales due to poor quality in the IDE and the help system in every version of the IDE since that change was made? Was it enough to justify the damage done to the good reputation they had built up before that decision?

Dennis Cote
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Relevant Pages

  • Borlands IDE bugs and plans
    ... This has happened so far with Delphi; ... Win32 and .NET code would be a hit. ... original plan was to use the Galileo IDE in Delphi 8 to do both Win32 ... bugs fixed, so it was not on the top of their priority list. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Am I paying for the same components in Delphi 2005 that I paid for in Delphi 1 and 2?
    ... So you're saying that once you start developing .NET apps, ... keep a Win32 IDE to maitain their older apps? ... But you have Delphi for Win32 which you can use now and then Delphi for .NET ... Delphi 2005 is not a multiple IDE, it is a single IDE that supports ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Delphi for .NET and Win32
    ... All I know is that Borland either published *updates* to ... > comfortable and productive in the existing D7 IDE until then. ... the continued support and development of the Win32 development tools. ... future development of Delphi for Win32. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: D7 revival? stirring the old pot + Delphi 64 suggestion
    ... Maybe a Delphi plugin for VS, at least it would be comfortable to work in, if on the sluggish side. ... Plus I think the VS IDE is nowhere near as good as the Delphi one, way too slow. ... However I would also be very interested to see what peoples opinion would be if the Help system worked correctly - would that lessen the overall negative comments. ... Or better yet - maintain a single document base, and generate two versions and give users the choice. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Native Delphi IDE
    ... I think their current strategy to have an IDE which hosts both Win32 ... comparison to what us Delphi developers are used to, ... And of course, BDS ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)