[Lazarus-other] [Lazarus] Some information please

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Marco van de Voort wrote:

> It seems that I'm atypical, since even on the job I don't  use Delphi for db
> related purposes. (this small CRM thingy excluded)

I've got quite a lot of database-related stuff, but far more interesting 
are the areas where a database (e.g. Sqlite or SleepyCat) is embedded in 
an application where you wouldn't normally expect it (e.g SVN).

> For me this analogy goes a step too far. Yes, there is a superficial
> likeliness (tool vendor bought by db oriented company), but there are
> differences too.
> 
> Like clarion sold 4th generation DB languages, not DB admin and analysis
> tools.  The difference is that clarion products would have competed with
> Topspeed products (if used for db access apps, and there were dbf toolboxes
> for it) while this conflict doesn't exist for Embarcadero<->Codegear.
> 
> The objective of Embarcadero seems two fold. Earning money, and some synergy
> due to the bundling of retail channels.

In the case of JPI Clarion had a critical interest in the tools since 
they not only used the compilers but- if I am remembering things 
correctly- embedded the compiler backend in their own tools. I'm 
assuming (perhaps wrongly) that Embarcadero has similar reliance, and 
that both companies concluded that it would be a disaster if somebody 
else grabbed the technology. It's worth noting that a few other 
companies relied heavily on the TopSpeed tools, for example Psion (early 
PDAs) for whom (again IIRC) there were some special hacks in the linker.

> Clarion stripped the devel team from the compiler teams for own purposes,

Yes, I knew some of the people involved. There were "goings on" that I 
won't discuss.

> The Delphi decline is IMHO threefold: (in this order)
> - Microsoft and Sun's multibillion development tools effots (with Codegear
>  being more a tens of miilions magnitude company)

Interesting to add IBM/Eclipse to this. I think that Lazarus competes 
with Java at least as much as it competes with Delphi.

> - Has gradually losts its foothold in education over the years. Partially
>   due to natural causes, partially because of neglect.

Article in the NYT this morning where various people are commenting that 
MS has similarly lost its foothold- all the interesting startups are 
based on "free" technology.

> - the longtime neglect by Borland, due to financial mismanagement (siphoning
>   profits to the ALM stuff) and failed .NET adventures.

ALM was doomed from the start, but with .NET Borland was "damned if they 
did and damned if they didn't": if fewer compiler vendors had signed up 
for it then MS might have felt under more pressure to make it succeed.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]