[DUG] Seattle questions

[Jolyon Direnko-Smith]

@Leigh / Steve,

The idea of Microsoft buying Delphi has come up numerous times over the
years.  I don't remember any hangings.  :)


There was a time when it might have made sense in terms of plugging a
"native code gap".  But that was when Microsoft was "betting the farm" on
managed .NET and had more or less abandoned C++..  But they turned that
particular corner a long time ago.  Their C++ compiler is no longer
withering on the vine and with .NET Native there is simply no compelling
need or reason for Microsoft to add Delphi to their stable.

For cross platform they have .NET Core for the major desktop and server
platforms and Xamarin for mobile.  If they really wanted to add Pascal to
their language line-up they could simply put an Objject Pascal front end
onto their compiler stack.  There is no need to "acquire" the user base of
an otherwise wholly incompatible technology.  They don't need the revenue
and if the idea is that they should acquire it simply to open it up and
make it free/cheaper then this entirely negates the "purchasing the
revenue" motive in the first place.

They can acquire the user base simply by offering much cheaper and more
capable technology.  Which they do.

Which leaves them wanting to do it simply out of the goodness of their
heart.  Why ?


On the other hand, if they really did simply want to add a Pascal
capability to their compiler line-up, RemObjects would be a far more
appropriate acquisition since - like Xamarin before them - they are already
part of the Visual Studio eco-system and have highly compatible technology.

It even sort of fits alongside Xamarin, with Xamarin offering a (mostly)
single-source cross-platform abstraction but with RemObejcts Elements
providing "bare metal" compatability (for C# as well as Object Pascal and
Swift) for both Android and iOS and even WinRT.


It would be awesome if I could start a new Xamarin project and choose to
implement using Object Pascal !!

We can but dream.  :)

On 12 April 2016 at 08:39, Steve Peacocke <steve at peacocke.net> wrote:

>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2016 at 6:58 AM, Leigh Wanstead wrote:
>
>> I think it will be great if Microsoft buy Delphi
>>
>
> Hi Leigh,
>
> A few years ago that would have gotten you hung from the nearest nearest
> tree branch, however today I find myself agreeing with you.
>
> Steve Peacocke
>
>
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