[DUG] Embarcadero article

[Jolyon Smith]

Thanks for the continuing feedback and insight Maclolm.  Very much
appreciated.

Can I suggest you take a peek at the poll running on my blog and the
comments to my post on the subject?  (www.deltics.co.nz/blog)

I know it's a very small sample size but as I commented in my blog post, the
idea that there exists greater demand for either Linux or Mac than there is
for 64-bit came as a genuine surprise to me and to everyone I've spoken to
about it (and note also the comment from one visitor, that even if Linux
support is to come first, it really has to be 64-bit to be of any practical
interest - i.e. for server side Linux purposes where most commercial
potential surely exists.  An observation which makes perfect sense to me but
which had not previously occurred to me directly)


For sure there is definite and very real *interest* in Mac and Linux
support, for the future, but I'm not sure that that necessarily translates
into "demand" ("commercially rewarding demand" being an even smaller subset
of any actual demand that there may be, especially in the Linux space which
is still, afaik, a largely free software ecosystem).

Speaking personally - I would *love* to be able to play around with knocking
out some Mac apps with my beloved Delphi.  But even if it were available
today I wouldn't be buying because I can't justify the cost.  In the
meantime my paying customers are asking for 64-bit Windows apps, not Mac
apps.

I still *want* Mac support, and the prospect *excites* me more than 64-bit
Windows.  But we *need* 64-bit Windows.


Of course, Embarcadero may have access to a wider and more accurate sample
size on which to base these decisions.  And again, as I observe in my post,
I have to hope that that is the case.

But even then, that would have to leave me wondering if Delphi is actually
the right tool to continue using, since the wider Delphi community - if
accurately reflected by this prioritisation - would seem to be heading down
a different path than meets our needs, and if Embarcadero are going to
service those needs more urgently than ours then we should perhaps be
considering other options.

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