Huw Collingbourne of Bitwise magazine has written a very good review of BDS 2006. Bitwise has also published a review of BDS2006 written by a Visual Studio guy, Dermont Hogan. While he wasn't conviced to switch tools, I found this thoughtful review to be well considered and balanced. Thanks, Huw and Dermot!
Update: Speaking of reviews... This one is a little confusing.
Marco brought up a sometimes hot topic on his blog about Delphi Trial and Personal editions. His first line “Delphi has been out from some time,” is a little interesting to me... Hmmm... Delphi/BDS 2006 was RTM'd (that's Released To Manufacturing) only about two months ago, and it has only been GA (Generally Available... another sales/marketing term) for only about a month. Update 1 for the C++Builder portions has been around for only a month as well. In my mind it is a little too soon to be clamouring for these editions. If you've watched this pattern in past releases it should be quite clear as to our normal time-line for releasing additional product editions in different types of packaging. There are very good reasons why it is done this way.
Let's examine the trial edition first. What is its purpose? I think we'd all agree that it is a sales and marketing tool designed to allow prospective customers to “kick the tires” and to evaluate the product in order to decide whether or not they want to actually purchase it. It is not there so that some group of nefarious individuals can hack at it to try and bypass all the “trial-ness” in order to get a non-time-limited version of the product. Then there is the obvious next question, “If that is the case, why not have the trial available as early as possible?” Now this is both a mix of my opinion and actual facts... first of all, for my Capitalistic/free market side it is simply a matter of economics. If we released a trial edition too soon after a product release, we stand a very good chance that many of the undecided early adopters would delay their purchasing descisions under the guise of “evaluating the product.” So instead of building up product demand in anticipation of the product release to the point that there are a lot of early orders ready to go on the RTM date, we risk a very soft start to the product release. Nothing generates excitement and attention to a product quite like pent-up demand.
Another more pragmatic reason to delaying the release of a trial is to simply allow the real product to “bake“ out in customer's hands in order to guage its response. This is also so that we can get a very wide range of product feedback which would drive our descisions about whether or not a product update is critically needed. So from a sales/marketing perspective you always want to “put your best foot forward.“ One way to do that is to base your trial edition on some post-RTM product update.
Now what about the “Personal“ or sometimes referred to as “Standard“ editions? These are the so-called economy/hobbiest editions. Again, these are typically at a lower price-point or even sometimes free as part of book or magazine bundles. So in a real sense they are treated very similar to a trial edition. From a purely economic standpoint, it makes sense to delay or limit the availablility of such editions, at least early in a product release cycle.
Now I want to be perfectly crystal clear here. We (Borland) do not deny nor ignore the benefits gained by giving our customers and potential customers more choices to purchase the product or for them to evaluate it. Both of the above editions are extremely important to the overall success of Delphi/BDS during the product release cycle. Of course I cannot make any kind of announcements as to when and if a trial or personal edition will be available. These editions are not only products but are also sales/marketing tools that need to be carefully and methodically deployed at a time we feel they'll provide the most benefit and the least amount of detriment to the market. I will say, however, that when and if we release trial and/or personal editions, most of you will be pleased with how things played out. Just as BDS2006 is a very different product from previous releases, so too will be the marketing. So keep watching during the coming months for some interesting things.
So if you've been waiting for us to release a trial edition and are “on the fence“ about purchasing or upgrading, I encourage to you go ahead buy today. Borland has a 30-day return policy (this depends upon the region so please check with your local Borland rep for details), so you'd still be able to evaluate the product for up to 30-days. Product reviews are beginning to come out and early results are extremely positive. If you're a VCL Win32 Delphi or C++Builder developer and are still using Delphi 5,6, or 7 or C++Builder 5 or 6, this is definately the edition to buy. For the C# and Delphi/.NET developers, you too will find many of the new features available to be well worth the upgrade as well.
Finally, on behalf of the BDS team I'd like to thank Marco for his long running support of Delphi and the Delphi community. I can, without a doubt, say that he is highly admired and respected by the team. His feedback, ideas, and thoughts carry a lot of weight.
I'd been meaning to write up some information about the new “-p” switch in BDS 4.0 (Delphi/C++Builder/C#Builder 2006), but it seems that Mark Edington beat me to it. So I'll just post a link instead: Startup Times and the Kitchen Sink
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays went well. I'm still recovering from family overload ;-)... Just prior to the holidays, I'd gotten an invitation to meet one-on-one with Tod Nielsen, Borland's new CEO. Tod had a stated goal to have 100 one-on-one meetings with individuals throughout the company within the first 100 days of becoming CEO. I immediately asked to be one of those 100. Yesterday, Jan 3rd, 2006, was my meeting with Tod.
First off, it was a relatively short meeting, only about 50 minutes. This was a “getting to know you” kind of meeting, which is much more than I can say about past CEO's and their interest in broad aspects of the company. I was impressed with his promptness and his clear respect for my time as I respected his. He's already moved into his office and has put his personal touch on it in the form photos on the walls and other personal items. One photo was of him and Bill Gates on stage at some launch or presentation event. That's cool. Of course there are the obligatory family photos. Didn't take him long to establish a presence.
I can really only relate my impressions of Tod since the content of the meeting was largely just some personal chit-chat along with other Borland internal issues, ideas, and concerns. None of which need to, nor should, be divulged. I tried to keep my answers to his questions long enough to convey what I wanted to say, but short enough to not be rambling on... I think I may have rambled once or twice, but not to an extreme. Tod listened intently and was not distracted or rushed which really made the whole thing much more comfortable. This was a chance for both of us to size each other up. I think I made a good impression... we'll see.
The one thing that really stood out about this meeting and about Tod was that he seemed to know and understand the dynamics of the Delphi market. He understood the challenges we face and that we have a very loyal and committed customer base. He's keenly interested in looking at what it would take to grow the Delphi market. He's also not here with all the answers but is willing to work with us to find the answers. The arrogance meter barely wiggled! The confidence meter, however, was pegged.
Again, time will certainly tell, but my initial impressions are very favorable and positive... now comes the hard part; doing the work and getting Highlander out the door over the next release cycle. Growing the Delphi market is going to be a difficult challenge in and of itself, but I hope to take a good solid crack at it. One thing that can go a long way to ensure Delphi's continued growth and success is to tell all your friends about all the good stuff you like in Delphi 2006, and tell us (Borland) about all the stuff we need to make better. I still firmly believe that Delphi/C++Builder market is exactly as I said in this posting from last year. I'm encouraged to find that our CEO seems to think the same thing.
Well, it's been an eventful last couple of months, to say the least. I've not commented here on recent events for several reasons. First of all, I've been on vacation for the last week with the family (Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure). Secondly, I wanted to see what the tone and reactions were to some of the latest news from Borland. So far, I'm pleased with how the customers have been reacting. So let's recap the latest news along with my various opinions...
Tod Nielsen - New Borland CEO. So far so good. He's a former MS exec and has walked in the shoes of many of us in the tools and database business. Frankly, I feel his pedigree is the best since Phillipe Kahn. That isn't a knock to any former CEOs (at least not all of them ;-), but merely an observation. His tag line, “Go big, or go home.“
Borland Developer Conference - Smaller venue. More focused on developers. Good content. Different “feel.” Better in some ways, and not so much in others. I really enjoyed participating in the opening keynote and doing the “What's new in Delphi“ talk.
Borland Developer Studio 2006 - Released to manufacturing. It was nearly a month and a half later than the original schedule due to needing more time to hit our quality criterion. Upper management, pushed hard for the orginal release date (as they should) but know that a quality focus would pay off in the long run. Big, big change from previous releases. Is it perfect in every way? Probably not quite, but it really needed to be out there so we can better know where to focus our efforts for updates.
C++Builder 2006 - The descision to release C++Builder as a preview and update that personality later was unprecidented. The team was stoked by this descision. By all rights, the C++Builder personality will get a significant number of much needed fixes before the update is released (which is real soon now).
Danny Thorpe - Sticky subject, for sure. First of all, yes, Danny has left Borland and is now working for Google. His reasons for leaving are personal, so I'll simply quote his comments made in the borland.public.delphi.non-technical newsgroup:
Members of the Delphi Community,
As you've no doubt read in other threads in this newsgroup, I have left
Borland to seek new opportunities at Google.
This was not a sudden action. I have tried my best to ensure a smooth
transition for the Delphi team, starting with transition plan
discussions with Borland management more than nine months ago.
Delphi is built by a team, not by any individual. Far greater talent
than mine has come and gone from the team, and Delphi presses on. More
importantly, far greater talent remains in the team, some of it as yet
untapped.
As you may know, my philosphy is that teams should be built to
anticipate, tolerate, and support the comings and goings of individuals
on the team. Everyone will eventually leave the team - either by
choice, or by pine box. To ignore this is childish.
I have full confidence in the Delphi team to continue to deliver the
right stuff to keep Delphi current, innovative, and competitive for
years to come. Though there have been some difficult spots between
myself and Borland corporate management, the internal changes in
attitude and messaging in recent months from Borland corporate toward
Delphi have turned my faith in Borland supporting Delphi back toward
the positive. I'm sure that will only get better as Todd Neilsen
steps in as the new CEO.
I'm also pleased that in some small measure my departure is creating
opportunities for advancement within the Delphi team, and that Borland
management (Boz and Steve Todd) was very supportive of "redrawing the
map" under the guidance of Allen, Michael, Eli, and myself. Several
individuals on the team have been promoted in title and/or in pay as a
result of this change. Many of those have not seen promotion or pay
raises for as long as 5 years. Borland has also committed to opening up
several new positions in the Delphi group in Scotts Valley, which may
be filled with entry or mid level engineering talent. This alone is a
significant reversal of the "No new hires in Scotts Valley" edict
earlier this year by then-CEO Dale Fuller.
I was not snatched away from Borland, and I am not leaving Borland for
lack of money. I sought out Google, and I'll be making at Google
exactly what I made at Borland, which is nicely comfortable but not
excessive. There were other suitors (including the obvious one) but,
quite frankly, Google outmaneuvered them.
Could Borland have bought me back? No, because I didn't leave for
money. Why, then? Opportunity. I'm going to Google to pursue ideas
and opportunities that are simply beyond Borland. I love Delphi, I
know it inside out, but there's a lot more in me than just Delphi.
After 15 exciting years doing a wide variety of things at Borland, it's
time for me to do something /completely/ different.
This is not goodbye. This is just changing channels.
-Danny Thorpe
Engineer, Google.
Let me comment by first saying that Danny's departure will certainly inccur some pain, however we've always survived the departure of other high-level team members. What this does is open up the team to allow some of the existing talent to advance and get the opportunity to put their unique mark on the product. It also opens up an avenue to bring in some new budding talent. As a matter of fact, we've just hired a new, young, hot-shot engineer in an entry-level position who was with us as an intern for a year or so. (the scary thing is that this guy was still in middle-school when Delphi was released!) Notice I said, “team.” That is a key point. Delphi was, and always will be, a team effort. Danny himself states, “Delphi was built with a team.”
On a personal note, Danny's mark will always be on the Delphi product, as will be Chuck Jazdzewski's and Anders Hejlsberg's. I can honestly say that Delphi wouldn't be what it is today without the vision and guidance of those individuals. I also count them all as very key to my own personal success for it is was with thier mentoring and guidance that I've been able to take over the reigns for Delphi.
So Delphi is moving forward on into the next release, codenamed Highlander. We're still on the same roadmap. The only things that may change is the timing. Internally, we're investigating various agile development methodologies in order to enhance our current processes. What is interesting about this is that it is being endorsed and supported by the exec management team.
