Borland selling their IDE business

[Sly]

In their quest to become the largest user of incomprehensible corporate buzzwords this side of a legal document, Borland is putting their IDE business up for sale.

Borland press release (http://www.borland.com/us/company/news/press_releases/2006/02_08_06_borland_acquires_segue_software.html)
Slashdot article (http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/06/02/08/1751208.shtml)
eWeek.com article (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1922024,00.asp) - See if you can find the story amongst all those buzzwords.

Maybe the buyer will make the IDE good again? Or perhaps it is confirmation that it was a good idea to leave Borland behind.

[Robert Kosek]

What in the world?? :shock:

Maybe, just maybe, this is a turn for the better. Let's just hope it falls into the hands of people who love pascal as much as all of use do! :wink:

[LP]

This could be quite positive - Borland has no qualified developers for their IDE anyway at this point. Furthermore, a company that buys BDS might remove unnecessary bulk from it (which can be seen right from the installation - loads of useless Borland packages and other crap). The bad thing is that it won't happen any time soon. :?

[savage]

The only company that I can think of, right now, who might try to turn it around would be RemObjects, who still seem to believe in Pascal. But whether they have the time and or money to make the IDE great again is another matter.

[WILL]

This could end up with us having a more competitive era for Pascal tool developers. Less Delphi-centric aims by other Pascal developers and more Chrome and Free Pascal support going around.

Some other small dog and alternative platform compilers might even get a slight boost in the market with the decent of Borland as a figure head boasting the Delphi banner.

Also perhaps the proper language name 'Object Pascal' might get more recognized now that 'Delphi' has become less credible as a brand name.

[dmantione]

RemObjects is most likely a small company; note that Chrome isn't really a compiler, it generated .NET intermediate code. All dirty work, i.e. the optimizations are done by the .NET runtime.

The Chrome software can very well be written by only a few programmers. To develop/support/market Delphi you need to be more heavy, i.e. Borland not only has much more programmers but also has sales offices in a lot of countries, which are necessary to bring in the money.

So, I expect a bigger fish is needed. Best to hope for IMHO is company that isn't in the development tools market yet and that wants to make investments into it, since the products are going to need to to remain competitive.

[tux]

stick pascal into visual studio! :D

[Sly]

Borland were contractually prevented from developing a Visual Studio plug-in for Delphi.

I don't think RemObjects will purchase the IDE business because they already have a better IDE, ie. Visual Studio.

[tux]

Borland were contractually prevented from developing a Visual Studio plug-in for Delphi.


doesnt mean microsoft cant ;) oh i can dream!

[savage]

A few potential buys that I like the sound of are Google ( they recently poached Danny Thorpe - compiler dude), Apple ( They have Corbin Dunn ) and possibly Novell who seem to be involved with the Mono project.

[Robert Kosek]

My problem is that I like pascal. If no-one continues to support Delphi, regardless of the version, then I'm blown out of the water. I hate c/c++/c#. It's overly complex, IMO, and is a total eyesore.

But if that's what I need to use to make games anymore... I don't know what I'll do. :(

[Traveler]

But if that's what I need to use to make games anymore... I don't know what I'll do.

Surely you don't need the next Delphi xxxx version to create games. If there's no more after D2006, I'll still be a happy D5 user any day of the week.

[Robert Kosek]

I don't plan to make only freeware stuff, I have to eat somehow, right? So read my EULA snippet:


4. LICENSE TERMS FOR THE WORKS YOU CREATE USING BORLAND
DELPHI PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION EDITION VERSION 6
Borland grants to you as an individual, a personal,
nonexclusive license to install and use the Software for the
sole purposes of designing, developing and testing in source
and compiled form, the works which you create using this
Software only for your coursework or research ("Works"),
subject to the restrictions in this License Agreement.

Nothing in this License Agreement permits you to derive the
source code of files that Borland has provided to you in
compiled form only, or to reproduce, modify, use, or
distribute the source code of such files. You may
distribute source code or compiled code that is entirely
your own, subject to the restrictions below. Source code
which you generate with a Borland source code generator,
such as the Application Wizard, is considered by Borland to
be your code. Distribution of your Works, whether in source
code or compiled form, may only be made to other licensees
of this Software. All distribution must be non-commercial,
in other words, you may not receive any direct or indirect
compensation for your distribution.

GENERAL TERMS THAT APPLY TO COMPILED WORKS AND
REDISTRIBUTABLES
You may compile (including byte-code compile) your own Works
using this Software, including any libraries and source code
included for such purpose with this Software. You may
reproduce and distribute the Works without additional
license or fees, subject to all of the conditions in this
License Agreement.

The Software may include certain files ("Redistributables")
intended for use with your Works. Redistributables include,
for example, those files identified in the accompanying
printed or on-line documentation as redistributable files,
those files preselected for deployment by an install utility
provided with the Software (if any), or those files pre-
selected by a third party install utility which operates
under control of an install script which Borland has
certified (if any) for use by licensed users of this
Software for deploying applications. In any event, the
Redistributables for the Software are only those files
specifically designated as such by Borland. From time to
time, Borland may designate other files as Redistributables.
You should refer to the documentation, including any
"readme" or "deploy" files included with the Software, for
additional information.

You are not permitted, under this License Statement, to
distribute the Redistributables in any form.

The Software might include source code, redistributable
files, and/or other files provided by a third party vendor
("Third Party Software"). Since use of Third Party Software
might be subject to license restrictions imposed by the
third party vendor, you should refer to the on-line
documentation (if any) provided with Third Party Software
for any license restrictions imposed by the third party
vendor. In any event, any license restrictions imposed by a
third party vendor are in addition to, not in lieu of, the
terms and conditions of this License Agreement.

All Borland Software provided under this License Agreement,
including but not limited to libraries, source code,
Redistributables and other files remain Borland's exclusive
property. Borland will retain all right, title and interest
in and to the libraries, source code, Redistributables and
other files, including the Intellectual Property contained
in such property (including but not limited to, ownership of
all copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks
worldwide).

...

Fun. :evil:

So I have to buy SOME copy if this hobby is to support me, but I can't even sell my own work to get money with which to buy a copy. Not even E-Bay will have low enough prices for my budget.

[LP]

So I have to buy SOME copy if this hobby is to support me, but I can't even sell my own work to get money with which to buy a copy. Not even E-Bay will have low enough prices for my budget.
Well, you could enter PGD contest and win your copy of BDS 2006. ;)

P.S. This is rather an off-topic question, but let's suppose this scenario: you write your *.PAS files in Notepad and then ask a friend, who has bought PRO version of Delphi to compile it and give it back to you. Does this allow you to sell your program? :) [If this works, it may be a solution for you, Robert ;)]

[Robert Kosek]

Hmm, I don't know... it's sneaky and I like it, but I dunno. I'm pretty darn close to getting an illegal copy, even if I don't use it, just to spite Borland.

Yeah, I could try for the contest, but since I've not actually released one of my games, let alone actually finished one, my chances are low. That's why I started the Just Die already project of mine, hopefully practice up for next year...

[LP]

Hmm, I don't know... it's sneaky and I like it, but I dunno. I'm pretty darn close to getting an illegal copy, even if I don't use it, just to spite Borland.
Have you wondered, how many people participating in PGD contest that use Delphi are having license for it? :) (talking about any license, even the educational one ;))

[LP]

I'm not aware of how to split threads, apart from cutting and pasting.
There is "||" button on bottom-left of the page. You select the specific topics and they are created in a new thread (there doesn't seem to be an option to move to existing thread).

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/1936/split1oe.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[savage]

Done, thanks for pointing that out.

The new thread has been created @ http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/viewtopic.php?p=19402 and I will delete the previous one.

[savage]

Here's the a link to the MP3 of a public online chat with the IDE/Tools Developer team that was held yesterday - http://bdntv.borland.com/replay/mp3/bdnradio_dev_future.mp3

[savage]

Also worth listening to is this http://bdntv.borland.com/replay/mp3/bdnradio_btp_devco.mp3 which is a chat with the Borland Technology partners.

[savage]

It seems that WinCE support will now be an update to Highlander rather than shipping with it. Highlanger will have .NET 2.0 support though.

[JernejL]

44 page feedback of comments why people aren't upgrading to BDS:

http://blogs.borland.com/nickhodges/archive/2006/10/04/27823.aspx#FeedBack