Delphi 2005(which is indeed Delphi 9) supports platforms win32 and .NET(with a lot of other required included installations like the .NET framework, Java++ SDK, GTK+ SDK, etc) and languages Object Pascal(which is what Borland calls the Delphi language) and C#(a bit different from C/C++). No CLX or Linux support.

Delphi 8 was the one that only supported .NET as is was sort of a guinepig project by Borland to test the .NET waters. No CLX or Linux support.

Delphi 7(the last compiler that I liked from Borland) supports win32 AND linux(using CLX and Qt). Can be used with Kylix to support the Linux platform, but there is a bug preventing Kylix from compiling or running on the 2.6.x linux kernel or higher.


The changes from Delphi 7 to 2005's IDE is quite big and the removal of Linux support with CLX and Qt is gone. The only possible saving grace is that they have added some code refactoring features. Delphi 2005 won't be coming by way of a Personal Edition for a while, but 7 has one available now.


Hope this sheds some light on your choice. The alternative is always Free Pascal, which is by NO means the boobie prize. It is quite cross-platform compatable(and cross-compiles) supporting win32, DOS, linux, BeOS, MacOSX, etc...


BTW, welcome to PGD!