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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I think it’s definitely the 2<sup>nd</sup> problem rather
than the first (where “not good enough” also means “not
relevant enough”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I routinely upgraded my Delphi thru versions 1-7. Then
Borland went chasing .NET which was of no interest to me and the prices
escalated as a result (with the excuse that I was now getting a “Studio”,
despite the fact that I didn’t *<b>want</b>* a “studio” I
just wanted “Delphi”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Delphi 2007 finally addressed *<b>that</b>*, but then they went
and chased the wrong rabbit again with Unicode, and the prices of the single
personality Delphi editions didn’t follow the Turbo’s, jumping back
up to “Studio” level pricing once the Turbo’s had been
quietly forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Unicode is a complication and an unnecessary distraction for me.
Ironically, figuring that I have to embrace it if I want to stay current, I’m
also finding that the approach they’ve taken is itself intensely
frustrating and confusing. It’s great if you want to convert your
old ANSI application to use the Unicode API’s, but hopeless if you want
to implement “proper” Unicode support in an application.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I had a wry smile to myself when I heard that Microfocus bought Borland.
My first full time job in this industry was working on a PC-based time and
attendance system running Concurrent-DOS, with custom built clocking in/out
terminals that used RFID transponders to identify employees (almost 20 years
ago!).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>That system was written in MicroFocus Level II COBOL although my
screen editor of choice was “ED.EXE” which iirc was actually one of
the sample apps in Borland Pascal at the time. </span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'>J</span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz] <b>On Behalf
Of </b>John Bird<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, 21 September 2009 21:49<br>
<b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [DUG] A change in upgrade policy coming from Embarcadero<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>I reckon the problem of too few
people upgrading is two-fold:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>1 - Delphi is too good.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>================</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Done work for a firm still using
D5 for 10 years. Still works just fine. Not designed to break or
become insecure after a few years.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>2 - Delphi was not good enough</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>=======================</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>ie not cheap enough to be a
no-brainer to buy (unlike Turbo pascal early 90's), not cutting edge and
exciting enough to attract the fresh new faces learning programming. Mainly
because Borland took eyes off the developer community. Maybe got leant on
to do .NET stuff by MS too, and big end tools and lost their unique
focus. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Serves them right to disappear
into the bowels of a Cobol company. I remember that MicroFocus was around
big time 25 years ago. Looks like they kept focus at least (no pun
intended).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>I however don't consider Delphi
to be small time or dying. The previous language I programmed in doesn't
even rate in the top 100 on the TIOBE index, so to get into Delphi with huge
resources on the web is big time for me :)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>(The old language incidentally is
30 years old, still produces applications in daily use, solid
compiled/interpreted stuff. Anyone remember the name DIBOL?)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>John<o:p></o:p></p>
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