I think the thing that bothers me the most is that it is so difficult to find developers, and also to get new developers interested in the language. We've standardized on Object Pascal for all of our game dev and tool chain (with exceptions where it is absolutely necessary), but the few programmers I have pursued take one look at the language, available learning documentation (ie, the "learning curve"), and the paltry community support, and just say "thanks, but no thanks".

This is one of the symptoms of the fallowness for which Embarcadero is, in greater part, responsible. The reason they have to charge so much with Delphi is because they sell so few units. Since they do next to nothing to evangelize the language (nor support anyone in doing so), there is very little "new blood" coming in under the banner, and as attrition impacts the community, there are even less upgrade sales, which are their bread and butter.

What the OP community (and the OP game dev community, by extension) really needs is another Turbo Pascal. $49 (or whatever in today's dollars) for a compiler, an IDE, and some useful starter libraries. Add to that a good wiki (which the community could build), and a community forum and management, and I think they'd have little to no difficulty moving product.

They just don't get the concept that they don't have to make money off of everyone else's success. Make a damn good roofing hammer (tool), make it affordable, and don't worry that it enables some roofer to earn a good living. Don't sell golden hammers... sell MORE hammers. Make MORE roofers out of people who might be interested in a career in roofing.

That's why FPC/Lazarus is going to succeed where they have failed, and continue to fail. As the kinks get worked out of the "free" tools, Embarcadero is going to have a more difficult time convincing anyone of their value proposition.

So, maybe we should turn this from a "tilting at windmills" effort, to focusing on what we need to improve FPC/Lazarus for our needs, which actually has a chance of happening, and is something *WE* can have a hand in, even directly, if we so desire.

Note that I am not saying "don't bother".. quite the contrary. If you can get through to Embarcadero, great! However, it doesn't have to be the sole/exclusive effort. There's nothing wrong with pursuing all routes.. and whatever positive results come from any effort are good for all of us.