Even though there's not much to talk about on the business side of the spin-out plans, there's stuff to talk about on the “DevCo” product/team front.
For the Delphi/C++Builder/JBuilder faithful out there, I'd like to announce some very exciting news. In this post, I'd mentioned that we just had a new compiler engineer join the team. This person is working out very well. What is also really exciting is that yesterday, a former Borland employee just accepted a position on the team as the new database/connectivity technology architect. Some of you may have heard of this person since he was the main driving force behind the stand-alone, SQL-92 compliant, fully managed code, JDataStore (and the tech preview NDataStore for .NET).
Steve Shaughnessy comes on board with a significant pedigree of having worked on many successful products. Steve joined Borland in 1988 and worked on the Paradox DOS team. Later, Steve moved to a research project called ICE along with several other Paradox team members. In the mid 90s, there was a new startup project called Latte whose goal was to create an IDE and framework around the coming Java wave. During Steve's involvement with what was to become JBuilder (which, BTW, the JBuilder 1-3 IDE was based on the Delphi IDE), he and another engineer created this interesting little stand-alone SQL-92 compliant embedded Java database called JDataStore. As the success of JBuilder and JDataStore grew, JDataStore was spun out of the JBuilder group into the database group alongside InterBase. While in this group, .NET was becoming a force in the market, so Steve and his colleague were able to move the JDataStore technology into .NET (The details by which they did this is the subject of another blog post and one I'll encourage Steve himself to expand upon). This NDataStore (for lack of a better name) technology was demonstrated at the 2004 BorCon in San Jose. In mid 2005, Steve decided to leave Borland after nearly 17 years. After the announcement that Borland was going to spin-off the IDE and database groups into a separate company, we started talking with several former Borland employees that had left to pursue other opportunities. Steve Shaughnessy quickly made it onto our “short list.” Steve is held in high regard among the members of the Delphi/C++Builder, JBuilder, and InterBase teams. Universally, when we mention Steve to folks who have had a chance to work or interact with him they have nothing but good things to say. When I announced this to the team earlier today, a spontaneous applause errupted in the room!
So, Steve, welcome to the team! In some ways this is starting to be the “DevCo” equivalent of “Hey! We're getting the band back together!” Once I get his permission, I'd also like to introduce our new compiler engineer.
This is some of the best news to come out of the devco thing in a long time. That any former employees are willing to return to the fold now shows that there is genuine optimism among the insiders.
ReplyDeleteI remember Steve from his support on the Jdatastore newsgroups. I can tell he's a top quality guy. Good news.
ReplyDeleteSteve the database guy thats way cool.
ReplyDeleteIt is even true to say "The Ice Man Cometh"
Now we need ermmmm that Sidekick guy yea thats him Philipe Khan (spelling crap).
Then that Anders guy.
For a buyer may I suggest Novell.
Bring back the Barbarians! Take no prisioners!
ReplyDeleteCall Thorpe! Call Heilsberg! Call Chuck J!
Borland’s database connectivity solutions have ALWAYS been best of breed - via a VERY long margin, for as long as I can remember (back to the old Paradox days) - says I. Nice to see that it will continue with DevCo. And very reassuring.
ReplyDeleteCheers Lads :-)
Robert H
Allen,
ReplyDeletethis is for me a really great news for NewCo and the Database-team after the RameshT-Info this week. xDataStore is back <g>
:-) thomas
Tremendous stuff, this kind of thing gives all of us in the Delphi community a real boost. Many thanks for sharing this with us :-)
ReplyDeleteI'll look forward to his blog. :)
ReplyDeleteGood news!
ReplyDeletePlease, keep pushing!!! We are still in great hope!
I would like the come back of Steve, but I don't like that Ramesh Theivendran left Borland.
ReplyDeletekind regards
Frank
It is very nice to see that ex-employees are feeling positive about this.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good sign for users - go for it!
Alan,
ReplyDeletethat's fantastic news.
While I am considered by many to be unrelentingly negative, (while I consider myself to merely be realistic and disenchanted of the stars in the eyes syndrome) - When those who have chosen to leave Borland over the past few years return, I can only view that as a good omen.
ReplyDeleteI hope there will be more good omens.
Incidently, those who wish for Anders to return - you do realize that the most likely way for that to happen is for MS to buy Devco, yes?
Please do not forget Kylix. DevCo can make a huge impact in the Linux world at the very least on the server side. Maybe you need to reconfigure the marketing model for the open source environment. Obviously, the examples of JBoss and other successful open source efforts points in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteExcellent News..... perhaps DevCo will fix the BDE as I still use it extensively as a gateway to ODBC. I also Paradox/dBase tables locally..
ReplyDeleteGo DevCo!!!
Lou -> BDE is pretty much a lame duck at this point. Actually, once paradox tables hit a certain size in a network environment, it always has been a lame duck. It just goes nuts.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, you might want to look at a local copy of firebird or interbase instead. You can use the newer db technology, its pretty darn stable and it scales beautifully, plus you get a boat load of features missing from the BDE (admittedly, all the DB components are STILL based on a paradox tables world, so I use code to load/unload my editing fields now to avoid the auto-hell that can arise otherwise). Firebird also has the advantages of being free.
The install is just as easy and Firebird/interbase are much easier to manage. You can put BDE configuration hell behind you.
All of this also applies to MSDE/Sql Server Express if you prefer those.
Anything in place of the BDE basically, because Borland hasn't bothered to fix stability bugs that are years old.
*Whoohooo!*
ReplyDeleteSo there's still a chance for a nice inproc briefcase DBMS that doesn't need local privileges? :-)
For those not knowing what I'm ranting about, I mean nDataStore. ;-)
yes steve is back!!! this is not a good news this are very good news!! i hope xDataStore can wake up and show the people who decided to stop this product what sometimes are wrong decissions. with NDataStore Borland can extreme coming back in the .net world. I have never saw a other product wich runs so fast on my pocketpc.
ReplyDeletegreetings from germany
daniel
ups,
ReplyDeletelastmessage:=lastmessage.StringReplace('Borland','Devco');
Good news.. even more will most likely show up later, after the purchase by DevCo.
ReplyDelete>Excellent News..... perhaps DevCo will fix the BDE as I still use it extensively as a gateway to ODBC.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest ODBCexpressinstead, quite a bit less headaches.
> I also Paradox/dBase tables locally.
There are so many (free or not), much better alternatives that it feels out of place to see them still being used... let the old bones rest in peace!
Only to name the top free local databases: embedded Firebird, SQLite or MSAccess/Jet (part of MDAC) all behave better, and offer more functionality than Paradox/dBase.
>For the Delphi/C++Builder/JBuilder faithful out there
ReplyDeleteAren't you giving a thought about if Kylix could fit in the new DevCo?
Linux is slowly growing on the desktop front, and people will need to start to create/port the applications to Linux.
Maybe the Linux supporters are not willing to buy Kylix, but, What about giving the Win developers the option of create a Linux version of their product?
Although I am completely biased because Steve is my brother, I am so pleased to see such a great welcome to the return of this valued creator at Borland/Devco! This is a great man of the most highest integrity and I am glad he has good friends at Borland.
ReplyDeleteDonna
I think the biggest market for developers and end users would be for the returning folks to separate the Paradox application from the BDE and maintaining OPAL. The best desktop database would be viable and developers would still have a rich programming language to work with. Paradox-Firebird would be a great option over Access-MSSQL.
ReplyDeletei want gaining momentum video clip
ReplyDelete