>10 years in the making...

Sure, the latest news of Embarcadero Technologies signing an definitive agreement to acquire the CodeGear portion of Borland's business is a recent development. However, looking back on my years here at Borland, I have to chuckle a little bit. I remember sitting with other Delphi team members many years ago on more than one occasion waxing poetically about how great it would be to spin out Delphi and the other dev tools products into either a stand-alone company or into the arms of someone who will nurture and cultivate their value. While at the time it was idle chit-chat, who would have thought that this day would actually come?

Throughout the day, yesterday, I got into several IM conversations from former co-workers all asking how I felt about the news. I honestly told them that this is the best outcome for the future of the developer tools products anyone of us here could have imagined. As I was on my way from work last night, I got a phone call on my mobile phone. I was wondering when I would get this call. The voice on the other end said, "Hi Allen, this is Chuck." Yep, I was totally expecting a direct phone call sometime from Chuck. If you've been following any of my posts over the last few years, you know that Chuck Jazdzewski was very instrumental in my getting hired at Borland. Chuck served as my mentor for many years.

Chuck's first question was one of concern and wanting to know how I felt about these developments. Thanks, Chuck, that meant a lot. We talked for a while as I was driving. Don't worry, I use a bluetooth hands free headset :-). Part of the conversation quickly drifted to our many conversations in the past about how cool it would be to take the dev tools out of Borland. Unfortunately, I arrived at my destination and had to cut the conversation short. I would like to have continued. Chuck agreed that if he had any other questions that he'd be sure to give me a call.

If there is one thing about my tenure with the Borland developer tools group, it has rarely ever been a dull moment. I doubt that is going to be changing any time soon. Change is something the CodeGear teams have become accustomed to. It's great that this change is one of the most positive ones :-).

What a day...

Needless to say, it's been a crazy day here at CodeGear. I'm sure the same can be said of the fine folks at Embarcadero. Rather than saying the same things you can read about in all the various outlets and blogs, I figured I'd give folks my impression of how this is affecting the teams here at CodeGear.

At 9am PDT, we held a company "all-hands" meeting here in Scotts Valley, CA. Since this meeting coincided with Borland's earnings announcement, this was not an unusual event. Oh sure, the internal rumors had been flying for months. Folks kept saying that "something is happening." After the usual presentation and outline of the deal, there was an opportunity for a Q&A session with Jim Douglas, the CodeGear CEO. Jim was candid and frank. Like anything that is a major change, there is bound to be some level of nervousness. In this case, the employees were far more engaged in the meeting that I've seen in the past. It seemed that there was this collective sigh of relief among the whole crowd. We finally made it!

Michael Swindell presented information about how this is a great fit for both companies and began outlining a lot of the immediate and long term opportunities. When something fits this well, it's easy for people to just "get it." It's not a tough thing to "sell." If you're a CodeGear customer, I would encourage you to head on over to Embarcadero's site and just browse around and look at what they're offering. You should also take a moment to read this blog post from Greg Keller.

Throughout most of today, intermixed with doing a little bit of coding, I've also been cruising the newsgroups, blogosphere, and other message boards. So far the overall tone is very positive and upbeat. There are lots of questions and concerns. It's only the first day, so I'm sure as folks have a chance to digest what this all means, the real questions will start flowing. Off the top, right now there are no plans to veer from our current roadmaps or to interrupt any current schedules. As a matter of fact, this was the directive given from the Embarcadero folks to make sure we're still on track to deliver what we've committed to.

I also spent some time roaming through the halls here in Scotts Valley.  After the 9am meeting, there was a lot of hallway conversations about what this all means. There was no "hand-wringing" and "angst" among the team that I could see. In fact, most folks were already talking about what Embarcadero does, the products they offer, and how they fit with what we're doing. Those are exactly the conversations we should be having internally. By the afternoon, most of the team had settled back into their routine and the development engine was back running on all cylinders.

So if you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know and post through the comment system here. As I already stated above, it is business as usual in terms of products, schedules and features. As we approach the final close of this deal, more and more information will become available. So if I cannot answer your question right away, I hope to be able to do so in the coming weeks.

UPDATE: It seems that many of you are already hitting Embarcadero's site.  It appears to be suffering from a mild case of "slashdot effect". This is a good thing. Let's make sure they know how engaged, passionate, and committed the CodeGear customers are.

Fly! Be free! (this time for sure!).

Just in case you've not heard the "Good News", you should read it here... go ahead, I'll wait.

 

Well? Is that not some interesting news? If you've been wondering why this blog has been somewhat quiet lately, it's been due not only to being "heads-down" on Tiburón, but also because of this news. It's been a long-time in coming, that's for certain. In the coming days, you're sure to hear a lot more about what this means and comments from various sources.  Once I've had a chance to gather together some more information, I'll be sure to post it here.