Re: Attention doomsayers

Thomas Miller wrote:
I realize my list isn't going to be everyones cup of tee, but as a development manager, at a certain point, you have to drop a tool that is continually loosing users in droves (and good developers that want to work with it).

I am very worried where Code Gear, and more importantly Delphi will be in 3 years.

This part is relevant.. What CodeGear needs is new users for Delphi and BCB. Without new users, its market share shrinks.

There are only a few ways to get new users. One, is to seed the market with low to zero costs (not sure CodeGear can afford to do this), The Turbos are a good idea and can aid with this introduction. Borland used to package Delphi "Lites" with magazine articles.

Another way is to make the product do something others cannot. That's why I personally believe CodeGear should focus on native XPlatform strategies. Of course another way is integration with other suites. An Adobe Flex plugin for all of their IDEs would be nice (especially PHP, Ruby, and Java). Make the integration seamless working within one IDE.

Let your imaginations run wild for a moment, and imagine a Delphi or BCB for Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and embedded devices. Do you think there would be a market for this? I KNOW there would be!

For the Java business side, start making deals with third party vendors to create plugins for their environments. The JBuilder team used to include plugins for Vignette, for instance. Go the extra mile and focus on these areas few to no one covers.

Eclipse and NetBeans both support the other open source and proprietary popular models; like Spring, Hibernate, Struts, JSF, JBOSS, Geronimo, Glassfish, BEA, Oracle, and IBM Web Servers. No need to replicate this. How about plug-ins for Vignette, Documentum, FileNet, Peoplesoft, etc.? Since these are not readily available, focus on things like this. Offer these as plugins as CodeGear is doing now with OptimizeIt, StarTeam, etc. Also package these plugins with Enterprise versions. CodeGear is doing some of this currently. Reach out to other companies to make the best plugins for their environments. I can see where this would pay off.

I do not see CodeGear sinking, I see them at a cross-road. The operations must change to meet the market. I see this traction starting. It may not be going as fast as we wish, but there are only 24 hours in a day.

I do not agree with the rest of the statements, since just recently, I tried to use Visual Studio to do a simple batch C based program and had so many dependencies for this simply command line C program that it was unfeasible to deploy. Code Gear shined through here with a simple .exe that only required one dependency. Of course, if I had a major project that required a robust installer, it could have been a toss-up, perhaps. But since I rarely do Windows only programs. it was enough to convince me who had the edge. Bet I am not alone.

I used and loved Delphi and BCB for years. They used to be my primary tools because they were the best. DOT NET for Windows GUI apps, IMHO, is a no go.

WHY? WHY? WHY? I have asked this for years!! Why do you need a runtime environment for a platform specific app? MS apps are at the point with VS 2008, that they almost require NET. Borland based apps do not and they are much quicker to create in native format and much easier to deploy. Not to mention they will run so much quicker and require far fewer resources.

I understand the Runtime for Web based and server side apps, but not for platform specific GUI. The only time I see the need for a runtime GUI app, is when XPlatform is important (it is increasingly so, BTW). Remember, I am primarily a Java guy, so in my own statement, if I were platform specific, I would be speaking against myself.

Borland Delphi and BCB still excels in native Windows development. I do not see anything close. Certainly not VS 2008!
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Attention doomsayers
    ... I am very worried where Code Gear, and more importantly Delphi will be in 3 years. ... One, is to seed the market with low to zero costs (not sure CodeGear can afford to do this), The Turbos are a good idea and can aid with this introduction. ... start making deals with third party vendors to create plugins for their environments. ... MS apps are at the point with VS 2008, ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Attention doomsayers
    ... That independence is one thing that Codegear can bring to ... Delphi will be in 3 years. ... The JBuilder team used to include plugins for Vignette, ... Windows GUI apps, IMHO, is a no go. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Attention doomsayers
    ... I am very worried where Code Gear, and more importantly Delphi will be in 3 years. ... One, is to seed the market with low to zero costs (not sure CodeGear can afford to do this), The Turbos are a good idea and can aid with this introduction. ... start making deals with third party vendors to create plugins for their environments. ... MS apps are at the point with VS 2008, ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Attention doomsayers
    ... Without new users, its market share shrinks. ... Certainly in the US, I see fewer and fewer Delphi developers, nevermind *new* developers choosing Delphi. ... Offer these as plugins as CodeGear is doing now with OptimizeIt, StarTeam, etc. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: ECO, Delphi, Codegear, and CapableObjects (Delphi for VS!)
    ... It's not that simple Nick. ... Delphi is *not* a solution to this kind of problem. ... Neither you nor CodeGear gets to define ... admit we dont' chase technologies. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)