[Lazarus-other] [Lazarus] Some information please

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Marco van de Voort wrote:

>> 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).
> 
> Don't have those either. We are thinking about adding a database for logging
> results, but due to the sheer size of the data, and my experience in those
> magnitudes, we will probably be looking for some SCADA partner for that.

We do that, running as a bureau service and sending reports by mail 
365x24. We monitor sites from Sweden to Turkey, apps in Delphi with 
PostgreSQL as backend.

Apart from things directly related to that, I'm considering using 
Lazarus+Postgres for a multi-level collaborative project. The point is 
that Postgres has a facility where it can notify each user that there's 
been a change, so it's comparatively easy to have a shared work queue. 
That's the sort of thing I mean by "database in an unexpected situation".

>> 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.
> 
> I know there was some use in circles around Philips Medical too (startups).
> I was approached 2 or three times about helping out with installs and doing
> quick assesments of code (like how dos dependant it was).

Always seemed to me that Clarion's star customer was Frito-Lay, or 
perhaps my informant was excessively into junk food :-)

> And lazarus for now doesn't really have much chance there, an occasional
> skunkworks excluded. You need to be really big profile to get through to
> those decision makers.

Yes, I used to sell development tools to a lot of these people.

> First, there was the mistaken assumption that .NET would conquer all. All
> the press said this, the "visionaries" in the fora reiterated this time and
> time again and there was never much critique on this.  Even though
> .NET was an instant hit, there was never much discussion if it would stop at
> 60%, 90% or 99% of the market. 

The specialist press is enormously influential in this industry, and 
frequently ill-informed.

> Added to that was the fact that MS didn't really push the multiplatform
> agenda of .NET.  There were no big partners to push this, no compatibility
> framework, just a not production ready side-project (Rotor).  

I agree, but having Intel+AMD pushing x86 and then x64 and 
steamrollering the opposition didn't help.

> Third, the big hit of .NET is mainly the serverside part (ASP.NET). Not
> surprising for a Java copy, since that is a Java stronghold too. Borland
> went for clientside .NET, that is way less succesful. Clientside .NET didn't
> fail altogether, but was definitely second rate, and fragmented (Delphi.NET,
> winforms 1/2, now WPF, which then got spun into a RIA thing etc)

Agreed. However there's obviously JavaScript which also existed in both 
client- and server-side implementations, and has survived in the former 
despite MS's hostility.

The really big thing though- and this affects .NET, Delphi, and a myriad 
of other tools and environments that have been and gone- is that it's 
impossible to play "catch up" with Microsoft. If you can carve a niche 
for yourself and keep them out then you have a chance, but once they get 
an inch ahead you're in the dust.

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

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