[DUG] Embarcadero article

[Jolyon Smith]

> Fair points, but then it isn't really cross platform is it if you can't
> single source your application?

I suppose it depends if you demand 100% single source.  :)

Having a split 90/10, 80/20 or even 50/50 of cross platform/platform
specific code in an application is surely better than 0/100 if you have
cross platform needs to meet, especially if the platform specific code in
those 10, 20 or 50 splits means that your application looks and behaves as
well as it is possibly able to on each platform?

But I agree that "cross platform" probably means different things to
different people/applications.

To me it should mean more than "platform neutral" (in terms of OS platform).

It should mean that my application is available on Windows, Mac and/or
Linux, and in each of those environments it should behave as a user of that
environment would expect, FULLY exploiting the facilities of that
environment and enable my application to be regarded as a "Good Citizen",
one that potential customers/users will wish to spend time with and
hopefully) money on.

That HAS to mean a bit of extra legwork on my part, because magic boxes that
can do that simply don't exist.  Precisely HOW much extra legwork I will
have to put in will depend on the way I put my app together.  And of course,
whether that legwork is worth the effort will depend on how much - in $$$
terms - those various other platforms are actually or potentially worth, to
me.


But I think simply aiming for (OS) platform neutrality would be a mistake as
it would pitch Delphi up against Java, which is a battle it simply cannot
win.  Not least because those who need, or have needed, that platform
neutrality long since turned to Java for that and are not going to turn
their backs on it in a hurry.  Not, that is, unless Delphi offers something
that Java doesn't.

Access to platform specific richness in the GUI whilst easily enabling code
sharing across those platforms, I believe, is the Unique Selling Point that
Delphi must aim to achieve.  Along with the performance that comes with
native code, of course.  But that alone clearly isn't enough (otherwise
Java/.NET et al wouldn't have gotten where they have)


But at the end of the day, that's just my 2 cents.  :)


In the meantime I am personally dismayed that 64-bit is now considered a
lower priority than Mac or Linux support.  We have customers that NEED
64-bit support.  They need it more than they need Mac or Linux support and
indeed more than they needed Unicode.

I can only hope that Embarcadero have VERY good information about their
market place on which they based this decision, because it doesn't reflect
the needs that I hear expressed.

--
 "Smile", they said "it could be worse!"
 So I did.  And it was.