Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene #158
26 May
- DataRage 2 is going on right now, and it is not too late to get involved.
- Delphi Prism 2011 will be generally available very soon, and Marc Hoffman has a good rundown on what you’ll get in this significant release. My favorite part is the support for VS2010 right as this new version is out. You give up nothing and get a lot with Delphi Prism.
- I thought this taxonomy of developer types was particularly insightful. Which one are you?
- Does your high school or university teach Delphi?
- Did I mention this earlier? We are conducting a survey to learn about the application development market – what are the challenges developers face as well as the technologies and tools they’re using. It’s not “The Delphi Survey”, but instead a more general survey about developers, processes, etc. We’d love your input.
- And if you are interested in the broader perspective about where Embarcadero is headed, you might be interested in this press release about our new XE line of products. RAD Studio will eventually become an “XE Product”, and so it should be of interest to you all. You can learn more about it via what is currently going on with some of the DatabaseGear tools in this video.
Interesting so far …
May 26th, 2010 at 10:48 amBack in ‘06 I did my own taxonomy of developer types:
http://blogs.embarcadero.com/abauer/2006/06/02/25145
I was a little more critical of some of the types I listed.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:49 amJust took a "quick look" at the link for XE… I’m really really afraid about the future of Delphi!!
I’m a software developer who uses Delphi everyday, to earn a living and have done so for the past 10+ years. I happily pay for SA.
What I sense is a big marketing scam coming. Delphi was the made by developers for deveolpers but I no longer feel that anymore. I don’t need a new common interface - everytime the Delphi interface is changed bad things happen!!!
I’m trying to be open-minded but I am really really afraid this time!
May 26th, 2010 at 11:43 amRick –
I’m quite sure that your concerns are overblown. We aren’t doing anything differently here on the Delphi team, really, and there is no reason that you can’t continue to use and purchase Delphi in exactly the same way you always have if that is what you want to do.
Nick
May 26th, 2010 at 11:48 amNick -
I sincerely hope you are correct!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:31 pmRick –
I know that I am.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:32 pmTo me this XE stuff also sounds like confusing marketing Gobbledygook.
Nick, can you explain what will change in Delphi when it becomes an XE product?
May 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pmJan –
The very basics, XE means:
1. Enabled to run in the tool cloud
2. Includes an InstantOn version of the product.
Nick
May 26th, 2010 at 2:13 pmThe InstantOn version of Delphi means you can go to pretty much any Windows PC and have Delphi running right away. Like a portable USB drive version of Delphi.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:01 pmWith Instant on, I assume that we can run Delphi from an USB stick or network drive. But, here is the important question:
Does that include installed components?
Like, I put Delphi with all third party components on a USB stick and I can compile my project that depends on dozens of third party components on any PC by just running Delphi with the third party components from a stick?
Or when I upgrade my PC, I just copy the Delphi folder with components to the new PC, reregister and it just works?
Or when a colleague needs to work on the same project he just copies the Delphi folder with components to his computer, registers and it just works?
That would be really really nice.
May 27th, 2010 at 12:24 amCan anyone briefly explain what is in the video?
We do not have a high speed internet connection.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:01 amRick - don’t be scared - this is just normal. Customers demands are this way. Don’t think over the reason why this is - but the next door there is a company that has an Applicaton owner for WinMerge and one user. This should frigthen us all because one week budget for administration comes with this.
The tool cloud enables you to fine tune the cost for licences. Tools are indirect third party spend and companies look very sharp here and honestly Rational has at least a licence server far away from providing this potential.
Imho I prefer this concept a lot more to other vendors behavoir to come to your site and check … in the meanwhile tools spread and afterwards you get the bill. It is ok from their point but to hinder people from using productive tools via systems managment … is very very expensive. It is more honest to know before. They do not check me the single man but bigger companies of course.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:09 amI really do not think this tool cloud thing is such a great idea. Keeping our programming tools up-to-date takes up a tiny fraction of our total work time. Our company always first evaluates on a separate testing PC, then if everything checks out OK, we discuss, then install on developers’ machines. This happens once, maybe three times a year max and is no big deal. No way do we want to risk direct downloads to developer PCs.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:36 amJan –
Yes, it includes third party components.
Ken –
Tool Cloud is /a lot/ more than just keeping things up to date. It’s about availability, flexibility, and expanded choices.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:08 amThe instant on part of XE interests me. Ever since they came out with Delphi on a USB dongle, I’ve wanted it. I just don’t feel I need I need the 3 grand package or price tag.
As for cloud computing? Thanks, but I’ll keep my code on my machine and my tools local. I’ve had enough internet disruptions, and I realize that depending on the internet to always be available so that I can keep a roof over my head and food on the table is a loosing proposition.
Don’t get me wrong, the internet is great AND I have awesome bandwidth, but I’ve also seen what it is like when it goes bad - my ISP took MONTHS to figure out why my INET connection was constantly dropping of for long periods of time (ie an hour+), often mulitple times a day. Repair men would show up, shrug, say it was the area, recommend I give a few weeks and leave (remember I said this went on for MONTHS!).
I’m not about to trust my ability to get work done to that by trusting "cloud computing". Heck, depending on how it works, it might even be a violation of some of the confidentiality I’ve signed over the years.
So ya, vote me as a "no" for a cloud based version of Delphi (hey, you wanna add tools to the language that lets it consume cloud resources fine, but don’t make me access a cloud just to develop and compile)
Definitely let me know when I can get Delphi as an instant on Dongle tho. I’ll even supply the dongle, just give me the image to burn.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:59 amDelphi on a USB stick/dongle? That sounds like a good idea. I recently discovered I have used up 6 of my 10 Delphi 7 installs (through re-installing after getting bigger drives or getting a new PC)
May 28th, 2010 at 12:00 amWhere does the name XE come from?
May 28th, 2010 at 7:05 am> RAD Studio will eventually become an “XE Product”, and so it should be of interest to you all.
I sure hope it never does. Did anybody, at least the authors of that press-release themselves, actually understand what they wrote there? It looks like they had no clue what their upcoming products are for. After reading that text, all I get is that Embarcaderro plans to release something, which will do something else, and that something will be huge, deep and otherwise cooler than whatever competitors do.
Now there’s a lot of things which benefit from being huge and deep, but Delphi isn’t one. I prefer it shallow and small, but actually compiling code instead of doing heterogeneous on-demand™ instant-on™ toolcloudy nobody knows what for $4,995.
Note: This rant is in no way against the Delphi developers, you guys are great and very helpful, keep up the good work! I just hope this buzzword tsunami leaves you unharmed.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:10 amOne comment: the more integrated with other cloud tools Delphi becomes, the more distant a vision of a Free Turbo/Delphi line is.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:07 am