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In the Embarcadero forums, Roland Kossow posted his report on the first of the “RAD Studio World Tour” events in Hamburg yesterday, reporting on what’s new in XE3 and adding some more detail to the “XE3 And Beyond” blog post.

In a nutshell we have “FM2” (FireMonkey 2 – no real surprise there).

FireMonkey is Dead. Long Live FireMonkey 2!!

This adds actions, anchors and layouts and bitmap based styles and a host of further improvements, refinements, fixes and updates to FireMonkey.

I guess by calling it “FireMonkey 2” they are hoping to create “clear blue water” between this release and the shonky state of FireMonkey in XE2, which also helps Embarcadero abdicate responsiblity for reneging on their promise of “regular and frequent updates” to FireMonkey.

See? This isn’t an update to FireMonkey…. it’s FireMonkey TWO!!! Brand spanking new!

This trick (‘the schmucks will never notice!‘) of renaming and declaring newness is actually a recurring theme, as we shall see…

VCL and FMX – Ne’er the Twain Shall Mix

Everyone still claiming that VCL and FMX do mix should also note that this witches brew is still not officially supported. So despite people demonstrating that it is – seemingly – possible, 12 months after originally saying that it isn’t, and 12 months after having had the opportunity to verify other people’s claims that actually it is, the official position remains:

You still cannot, officially, mix VCL and FireMonkey.

So good luck if you have apps that do this. If you’re really lucky, it will still continue to hang together under FM2, but if it doesn’t – you were warned.

No Mention of Platform Native Controls

What is also very notably absent from the SmokedChimp Again framework is any mention of platform native controls.

I suspect therefore that the rumours and intimations that this is an area being worked on applies only in the area now called “Mobile Studio”, and as such Delphi developers can forget about it because Mobile Studio won’t be part of Delphi but a separate product, if/when it is delivered at all.

If It Looks Like Windows 8 Then .. Good Enough

Also as intimated in the lead up to the World Tour, the “Windows 8 Support” in Delphi is confined to a set of look-and-feel emulations of the Modern Style UI rather than “true” Windows 8 support per se.

No mention is made of the Windows App Store for example, unlike the specific call out for Apple App Store validity being mentioned.

A Tweak Here, A Tweak There

Other mentions are made of a new visual designer for Live Bindings, but no details other than that this provides “easier customization”.

Similarly DataSnap get’s an honourable mention for some bug fixes but no other changes or enhancements.

Those customers using DataSnap with XE2 licenses might be forgiven for wondering why a set of nothing but bug-fixes wasn’t released as an update to their tools.

Release Schedule

The official word is that XE3 will be released “this quarter”. I had previously been told “before the end of this month” so this is either simply less specific than it could have been or – more worryingly – indicative of a slip (unless Embarcadero delineate their quarters differently from the rest of us, “this quarter” means anywhere from now to the end of September. Not August).

Mobile Studio will apparently be released in Q1 2013 – this could be something “lost in translation” as I am fairly sure that this was the timeframe for the “beta” of this new product.

A 64-BIT C++ compiler is “expected” in Q4 2012. Then again, for a long time we “expected” a 64-bit Pascal compiler in Delphi 2010 and look what happened there….

No ARM support until Mobile Studio, and presumably ARM support is also confined to Mobile Studio. Delphi users who expected to be able to target mobile devices can give up on that idea now I think, or perhaps start demanding answers and explanations on this score.

Speaking for myself AND my employer we bought XE2 specifically for the future promise of mobile app development capabilities.

We was robbed.

A Rose By Any Other Name

As speculated beforehand, HTML5 Builder is the new name for a much modified Rad PHP. Surely any new release of a product is – or should be – much modified from the previous ?

Rather than being, for example, a bunch of fixes to previously released half-baked code with no apology for drawing twice from the same well.

But if you are the RadPHP user, this could be exciting times.

Counting the Days…

This time next week I shall have had a chance to hear this stuff myself, from the horses mouth as it were (though increasingly it seems like this news is coming from a different orifice, mixed with straw).

Dare I hope that Roland’s disclaimer that he may have “misinterpreted” some of what he heard is born out ?

Sadly, the last small flames of optimism in this regard are guttering in the gathering breeze…

48 thoughts on “Info From the World Tour (Hamburg)”

  1. Yes we feel the same….we purchased XE2 for 64 bit pascal plus ability to write IOS for client needs…..well, actually we thought it was also C++ 64 bit but apparently that got lost in the translation of “can it do C++ 64 bit” and the answer at the time “yes it does”…..

    We forked out for smart MacBook Pro’s, XE2, FM TeeChart all for the rapid realization we could not produce IOS app’s of any quality!

    All while telling our clients we could……..

    I’ve had a very optimism crushing day so far as well !

  2. Sounds like Delphi is about to be forked too as a language, as the features JT mentioned (like ARC) are specifically attached to the mobile side, which is said to become its own product. Not sure where that leads us, and many things are still up in the air, and their record track for things “up in the air” isn’t exactly encouraging, so anything is possible (including the shelving or reshuffling of their current plans)

    I’m feeling skeptical, even if some of their plans sounds good, they made too many broken promises over the last years, and sold too much snake oil.

    1. year or two ago, before large FreeAndNil chasm crashign the forum, there was Delphi2 thread, discussing LLVM compiler and language re-design coupled to it.

      Well, at least we can be sure that Delphi 1 would still be Delphi 1 šŸ™‚

    2. Honestly, I would wait for the exact ARC implementation pattern in their Mobile target. I hope it won’t be a Garbage Collector, but something like the iOS ARC model.

      See http://blog.synopse.info/post/2011/12/08/Avoiding-Garbage-Collector%3A-Delphi-and-Apple-on-the-same-side

      For mobile dev, I like very much SmartMobileStudio, which I bought and used to create some nice AJAX apps. Resulting “programs” are small (smaller than FireMonkey executables for instance), and with very good performance: modern JavaScript is quite powerful, and all demanding tasks (like 3D rendering) are handled by the web engine itself. And the same app works on a Desktop browser: so if you adapt your layout to desktop, tablet and mobile screens (there are some auto-adapters components available), you have a very good solution.
      “Native code” (i.e. compiled code) remains on the server side, using our little mORMot to server JSON content via a SOA approach.

      1. Yep, JavaScript & HTML5 rendering really seem to be the focus point of much optimization work from all players (Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla), and it certainly shows.

        The only thing that’s holding back HTML5/JS are political issues on some specs (MS on WebGL, Apple on LocalStorage/iCloud, Mozilla on WebSQL), but all in all, there is a definite pressure on all players to not fall back behind the curve, which keeps things moving nicely.

        Long gone are the days of the world being stuck on IE6!

        1. WebGL seems to mean SQLite anywhere. While it is good product in its niche and there are lot of funs of it, i’d definitely no more liked “SQLite everywhere” that i liked “MSIE6 anywhere”. Both in feature richness and security points of view.

          1. WebSQL of course, not WebGL šŸ™‚

            and by risks i do not mean that SQLite itself is unreliable, but more about general “monoculture”

  3. How do you go from not having a native Delphi for Mac to developing for iPad? I don’t get the mentality of that.

    I don’t dare ask if any of the remote compiles from Windows will get past the Gatekeeper in Mountain Lion.

    If I’m going to develop for Apple platforms, I’m going to need something that runs on an Apple platform. There are core libs that I need to know how they perform and how to access them from a common Apple style environment.

    As a game developer, I don’t need FireMonkey getting in my way either. I don’t want to use UI controls, I just want into my OpenGL context and access the essentials for audio, controls, etc with NO overhead that you could expect from a traditional “Application” style Delphi for Windows GUI/VCL-based application.

    I was already fed a tagline about how FireMonkey could be used to make games. No more pulling our legs please. Lets get serious or leave us game developers alone Embt.

    1. “If Iā€™m going to develop for Apple platforms, Iā€™m going to need something that runs on an Apple platform.”

      Do you say this with actual experience of using XE2 and Snow Leopard/Lion? I ask because while using the remote debugger isn’t ideal, the terrible quality of the FMX source in XE2 was a much, much bigger problem for me.

      “I was already fed a tagline about how FireMonkey could be used to make games.”

      Er, that precisely *wasn’t* the tagline for XE2, which was something like ‘next generation business application platform’ instead – they deliberately didn’t use the ‘g’ word, presumably because the performance was so shocking.

    2. Jason – “I was already fed a tagline about how FireMonkey could be used to make games. No more pulling our legs please. Lets get serious or leave us game developers alone Embt.”

      FireMonkey – The Next Generation Business Application Platform!

      And yes, Delphi/C++ and FireMonkey can be used to build many different types of applications on Windows and Mac today.

      Of course, the choice of what tools to use and what types of applications to build is always up to the company and developer.

    1. Your G+ post mentions an “iOS popup dialog”. It’s hard to say for certain what you mean without having seen it myself, but at first blush this reads more like it was some platform abstraction which presents (on iOS) a UIAlertView ? And presumably on Win32 a “ShowMessage” or “MessageDlg”. i.e. not “controls” as such.

      And as for when “it makes sense”… makes sense for whom ?

      Sure, they get to choose when FMX uses native, but what application developers need is the ability to make that choice themselves in a meaningfully practical and useable way in their own applications, instead of begging for scraps at the framework author’s elbow.

  4. Hey “Te Waka o Delphi”!
    Could you try to be a little more positive about Delphi, RAD Studio and what we are doing in Embarcadero?
    It is good to see that You want to be up to date with all the news, but it is not serving good to our beloved Delphi community and all Delphi fans, when you are so critical.
    RAD Studio XE3 is going to be a great release and with the support to Embarcadero from the community it is going to be even bigger:-)

    best regards,
    Pawel Glowacki
    Embarcadero EMEA Tech Lead for Delphi and RAD Studio

    1. Unlike the Evangelists MVP’s, I am not rewarded for speaking only in glowing terms, neither am I reprimanded for speaking my mind.

      Therefore I feel free to express how I truly feel. And that is, to put it in to two very simple words: “RIPPED OFF“.

        1. I think present continuous combined with constantly, always for ‘the’ sentence fits better. Customers tend to see things from a different perspective than the vendor. The question from the customer side is – ‘Hey, did I order this’;).

          Honestly, it does not make a huge difference to be ripped off by MS, Oracle. SAP, … rather than EMB…

          It makes a difference between selling to honest developers and huge corporates. The first have less money and are a lot more demanding, better said the second are a lot less demanding and maybe happy to have reasons for staying on an older version.

      1. I follow you and unfortunately the only way to make Embarcadero hear our request is through newsgroups and blog comments.

        We request bug fixes, EMB doesn’t fix or take 3-4 releases to fix. We ask for better prices, EMB doesn’t do anything and never answer our request. We see a Roadmap that never is delivered and when delivered has lot’s of bugs.

        EMB look what Microsoft does and how they respect their customers

    2. When there will be some more positive facts about XE3, i am sure he would come back with bright cherry reviewing of those facts. As for today it seems those facts do not exist or are concealed by Embarcadero’s policy. I’d repeat: by Embarcadero’s policy. Deltics is not the person to be held responsible for it.

    3. Pawel, Delphi is not an open source project, it is a commercial product that costs real money. XE2 was going to be a “great release” for those hoping to do iOS development and, lo and behold, your “beloved Delphi community” got a dog of a solution that is now being dropped.

      To earn support from what you call “the community”, you need to stop ripping them off with “promised” updates and then penailsing those who are disappointed by insisting they buy the next version (albeit via SA) just to get the next update.

      As others have said, they bought XE2 explicitly for the advertised iOS development feature. In the UK, we have the Sale of Goods Act, which penalises companies who sell products which are not of merchantable quality or fit for the purpose for which they are intended. Maybe a few of those disillusioned developers should take recourse to that or their local country’s equivalent legislation?

      1. Bruce, I could post any number of links from very well respected people pointing out that CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS (as opposed to the rather dubiously relevant “co-worker/workplace complaints”) are something that SHOULD be listened to.

        But no doubt that would be “negative”, despite being actual, constructive criticism. šŸ˜‰

        (“your examples are invalid, here’s why” vs what you presumably think I should say which is “Oh thank you, THANK YOU. I am feeling so much better now. You’re wonderful. What a great example. fawn fawn simper simper. May I kiss your feet?”)

        1. Everything you write is negative. Someone might take the time (again) to debate each and every one, bit who has that kind of time?

          Besides, some of the assertions here are ridiculous and don’t deserve a response.

          I actually welcome a real constructive discussion. I just doubt it will happen here.

          1. “Everything” is negative ? I mentioned that HTMLBuilder could be good news for the people that use it. And there may be good stuff coming for people with RAD Studio licenses who might – MIGHT – get Mobile Studio when it is released, but I am neither.

            I write from the p.o.v of a Delphi user and one who pays for their license out of after-tax, salaried income, who earns no additional income from his Delphi hobby over and above that salary. Your position may be different, and that might inform your perspective, but it does not invalidate mine.

            I have every right to be p*ssed off and that is bound to come across as negative because it IS negative.

            Which does not alter the fact that I have made VERY constructive posts in the past – to no effect Embarcadero simply don’t listen (and mine was far from a lone voice on those matters). Constructive discussion clearly does not work, so maybe it’s time for a different approach.

            If you don’t like that then I suggest you limit yourself to reading MVP blogs. They won’t tell you how it really is or what they really think because they are not allowed to if they want to keep their MVP badge of “honour”. But if you just want sweetness and roses, that’s where you should go.

          2. Over the years since I started with a beta of Delphi 1, some releases have been awesome and some have been disappointing but the overall enjoyment I’ve had from writing Delphi applications as part of my job and also for fun have far outweighed the disappointments.

            Therefore, I don’t need to write about the bad and it’s not because I’m pretending it doesn’t exist, it’s just much smaller than all the good in my view. Of course I’d like to have full native mobile support tomorrow for all the platforms for my hobby and to make use of my collection of devices. That doesn’t mean I have to criticise Embarcadero, their staff, other Delphi lovers because I always have the option to choose a new hobby and also appreciate their contribution to my hobby.

            All I hope for is fun and enjoyment from XE3 when that is released and the mobile platform support when that comes next year and the releases after that.

            1. You too seem to have missed the point that if you are a Delphi user then – as it stands – you cannot look forward to ANY mobile development support at all.

              You won’t be getting it in Delphi XE3 or even XE4 etc etc. As an XE3 user you will get access to the BETA for the product that you will then be required to buy separately when released if you actually want to use it.

              That would be fair enough if this had been the case from the start but as I, and it seems you, were led to believe that mobile platform development would be something that we could look forward to in Delphi itself, then this is not just an about face but also a slap in the face.

              If the customers (some companies consider these important) that are upset, annoyed, frustrated and feel cheated by this simply keep their mouths shut / suck it up / bend over and take their punishment like a man / [insert your preferred euphemism here] then there is zero likelihood of this position changing.

          3. Delphi is also my hobby and I pay my RAD studio SA out of my own pocket. I also purchased a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPod, Sony and Samsung Android tablets with the intention of doing cross platform development with Delphi at some point. So I have outlayed a lot of cash for my hobby and am a little disappointed that I have to wait a bit longer for native compilation for the platforms I want to tinker with.

            Is that the end of the world? Certainly not! As a hobby, I understand that my costs will be greater than my income but I still choose to do it because of my enjoyment and love of Delphi. I enjoy firing up Delphi and writing little apps for no other reason than the fun of it or because I can.

            I see my SA payment as an investment in future fun and entertainment for myself as new Delphi releases come out and I get to use them to build little apps for myself. If I determine that my Delphi hobby is too expensive, I can always find a new hobby although my photography hobby is way more expensive.

            I don’t think I’ve missed anything. If it costs me some more money then so be it as I have the choice to either spend it or not.

            1. Of course it’s not the end of the world, but are we supposed to smile and say “thank you” for being taken for a ride ?

              You seem to take some sort of perverse pleasure and pride in how happy you are to be screwed over. With customers like you and others I could mention, it is little wonder that Embarcadero don’t felt the need to treat their customers with respect.

              If I could run a restaurant and have customers like you, my job would be very easy. I could put gourmet dishes on the menu with exhorbitant prices but then churn out edible, undercooked food and STILL have happy customers who would actually go around not just being happy but actually criticising other people who complained about it!

              Incredible.

              Interestingly, photography is my hobby too.

              Drawing parallels with other such hobbies is always dodgy, due to the very perversely unique nature of the software industry. The closest comparable actual other product is narcotics (no coincidence then that the customers in both markets are referred to as “users”).

              But here goes:

              For one thing, my camera manufacturer does not require that I own a camera within a particular age range in order to qualify to purchase a new model. Sure, they don’t offer “upgrade pricing” but then again they also don’t prohibit me from selling my old gear to someone else when I no longer have use for it. Which amounts to “upgrade pricing” – get money back for old gear, thus reducing the cost of acquiring new gear if/when I feel like upgrading. But I don’t HAVE to upgrade to the next or every other product in order to protect my eligibility. And I don’t have to pay an annual fee to them to remain eligible for new gear, as an alternative to upgrading.

              If I wanted to pay on a regular basis (or even as a one-off) for the use of the latest gear, I would rent it as and when needed.

              I could even rent some gear in order to determine whether I might want to buy it.

              Camera co’s also don’t sell products with accompanying indications that some half-finished feature in this camera will be available in next year’s product, take my money along with the “upgrade right” fee, then take away those features at the last minute, buffing up the camera grip and throwing in some worthless – to me – accessories to “make up for it”, along with the news that I’ll need to buy ANOTHER, different product to get what I was under the impression – given by them – I was buying already in the form of an existing product that would be improved.

          4. I don’t feel I was taken for a ride as I still got to use XE2, just as I’ll get to use XE3 and may or may not have to pay extra for mobile support in the future.

            I feel I have been treated with respect – I paid my money and received a product I could use in return. Was it a perfect product – no.

            I think the comparison with camera gear is invalid since it requires light to make an image. The light varies but isn’t changed massively such as operating systems, hardware chipsets, etc such as when building development tools.

            Camera gear is also predominantly just released without forward looking statements as to what is coming in the next year. With a lens, all I have to worry about is taking the lens cap off and connecting it to the camera. I’m not trying to take a 200mm f/2.0 prime lens and use it at 18mm so once I take it out of the box, I use it specifically within the narrow boundaries of what it supports. This cannot be said for development environments.

            My camera also does have bios updates made available to add or correct features within it. Also, when I buy a $9K lens if I want the new model when that comes out, I have to spend another $9K so I have to be much more considered when evaluating whether to purchase the “upgrade”.

            1. Well, that’s the difference between you and I. There was nothing in XE2 that turned out to be useably useful. FMX was a mess. I never did get the iOS hack working. The development experience for OS X was intolerable. I was sold snake oil.

              In the past 12 months the most recent Delphi I have continued actively using is Delphi 2010.

              Frankly – if you are buying $9K lenses in addition to all that other gear then you have far more disposable income (by an order of magnitude) either that or a more reckless attitude to consumer debt than I. Either way, your position w.r.t how much money you can afford to spend on purchases is vastly different to my position. Which – as with Bruce’s situation – means your perspective is different, not that mine is invalid or unreasonable.

              But yes, if you buy a $9K lens and then want to “upgrade” it you have to buy it all over again, but your lens doesn’t come with a license that prohibits you from selling your old(er) lens to someone else.

              I don’t know which camera gear you use, but with Olympus we DO get “forward looking statements”, with development and pre-release information about upcoming lenses and bodies and what is in the R&D labs. That information isn’t channelled only to select customers willing to sign an NDA, it’s openly published and discussed. Maybe you just don’t follow/aren’t interested in those aspects of your photography hobby ? (with Olympus it is of particular concern I suppose due to the question marks in recent years over the future – or lack of – of 4/3 bodies in the light of the rampant explosion of m4/3… but I digress).

              Just recently Olympus have confirmed that yes indeed they are working on a 4/3 body. m4/3 owners in the meantime have been very well served with pre-announcements of products for their range of gear at the upcoming Photokina event, and previously on a fairly regular basis throughout the year.

              Some might suggest that the very vocal expression of dissatisfaction that has been notable among some segments of the 4/3 owner community is in no small part responsible for Olympus having decided to return to supporting those customers in the future, having previously indicated they had no such intention (yes, they even told us THAT!).

              If we had all just meekly resigned ourselves to having been abandoned, then they would have simply continued to ignore us.

              But again, I digress…

              Yet another example where the “user community” is much better served in terms of being kept informed – and listened to – by the manufacturer than the Delphi community. I find it funny how every time someone tries to offer a comparison with something to show that the way Delphi customers are treated is “typical”, it doesn’t actually stand up to scrutiny….

              Actually, no. It’s not funny. It’s depressing.

              Like I said, comparisons outside of the narcotics abuse industry are difficult to make, but you brought it up as if it was comparable, so I thought I’d have a go. If you are now saying it’s not comparable, why did you even bother mentioning it ? šŸ˜‰

              The software industry relies on – and in some cases imposes – “dependency” to a far greater extent than any other consumer or commodity industry I can think of. The question is to what extent each software company takes advantage of that (understandable and expected) and whether they cross the line into cynical exploitation.

              Embarcadero have crossed the line.

          5. You’re right. Your backhanded HTML comment is less negative.

          6. In my experience with Nikon professional range of cameras, they announce it and keep news of what is included very quiet until the announcement which doesn’t stop the rumour mill from operating at full throttle. There are pro photographers sprinkled around who have early development models but they aren’t allowed to share information until the camera is officially announced.

            I brought up the camera stuff in relation to it being an expensive hobby just like my home Delphi licenses are a hobby.

            I don’t feel I’ve been exploited.

            1. Right – but it’s interesting that the rumours tend to be very accurate. And clearly Nikon don’t go around issuing take down notices to suppress the information (in fact one often suspects that the “leaks” are deliberate). Then the detailed specifications are announced 2 MONTHS or so before it is actually officially available.

              Again, I invite you to compare and contrast with the amount of concrete information we have about XE3 which – if my local former reseller is to be believed – will be shipping by the end of next WEEK.

              But all of that is largely irrelevant – camera markets are a different kettle of fish entirely to software. But since you raised it I thought it interesting to note that it’s not *just* other software development tools companies that do a better job of informing their customers.

          7. In my experience, the Nikon rumours seem to be very inaccurate when talking about how many megapixel the new model will be, specifics of what is changing, etc.

            I cannot comment on whether Nikon issues take down notices or not. All I’ve seen is the day that Nikon releases a statement announcing the new body, blogs, reviews, press follow almost immediately with their statements.

            Which software development tools companies do a better job of informing their customers?

          8. Yeah I did read that but I was under the impression that Apple is a hardware company and Microsoft is an OS/Office/etc company.

            They happen to make development tools predominantly for their specific operating systems. Therefore, comparing them to Emb doesn’t make much sense to me. Emb isn’t taking a cut of every app made with Delphi. Just as Emb doesn’t have an OS/Office/etc cash cow to fund development.

            Apple can release as much information as they want considering they have much greater control as to who/what write software for their hardware.

            Microsoft is just too big to care so they can release information, public betas, kill/cease supporting technologies (DDE/OLE/COM/DCOM/COM+/MTS/WinForms/VB/some I’ve left off) knowing that the OS/Office markets will keep the cash rolling in.

            1. Yes, and by that measure Embacadero is a database tools company.

              Those comments are not about experiences as a Microsoft or Apple customer generally, but as a customer (and in the case of Microsoft, not even that) of their development tools specifically.

              I am not comparing the COMPANIES as I think you well know. I am comparing the experiences of the customers of their developer tools. The things that Apple and Microsoft do well and differently to Embarcadero are not things that cost vast amounts of money, they just require a certain attitude toward your customers.

              Apple and Microsoft value their developers – is it because those developers keep the ecosystems of their other product going? Maybe. Perhaps even definitely. But so what? If anything Embarcadero have an even BIGGER reason to look after their customers even MORE carefully, because in their case those developers ARE their business.

              The idea that Microsoft is “too big to care” is frankly idiotic nonsense, and the idea that Apple are more controlling in the way that you seem to think is equally fantastical. The information that I get as an Apple Developer is ONLy released to Apple Developers. My partner – an Apple customer, but not a developer, does not get that information, and I can’t tell her about it because it is subject to NDA – they remind me of that in every email I get from them.

              The difference is, I didn’t have to go begging to get that information.

              You only have to hear from David I once that “anyone can ask for advance information, and we’re happy to provide it if you sign an NDA” to know that common sense isn’t a strong suit in the upper echelons of Embarcadero mismanagement.

              But you’re happy, and clearly have more money than sense. All power to your elbow.

              Sadly, with enough doormats like you for Embarcadero to wipe their feet on, the rest of us don’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of ever getting treated decently.

          9. I’m sure the VB6 developers didn’t feel much love from Microsoft. I’m also not convinced Visual Studio developers felt much love when they were provided with the new UI for VS 2012. MS did fix it by sprinkling some coloured pixels here and there and having a mechanism to correct things like uppercase menu items.

            So wouldn’t emailing David I and signing the NDA get you more information?

            Maybe you have misunderstood the difference between a doormat and a 2yr throwing a tantrum every time they don’t get their own way or some middle ground between the two?

            I suspect that people just get tired of watching the jumping up and down and screaming and just walk right on by now. Maybe it’s time for a different approach to your dealings with Emb and other developers who aren’t as unhappy as you about Delphi, etc.

          10. VB6 ? u mean lack of backward compatibility ?
            Then you can also ask for example VideoLAN developers about different MacOS versions.

            But lack of compatibility is a different issue.
            Killing projects is a different issue to.
            Eureka, Turbo Basic, Turbo Prolog, CLX and Kylix – Botland also have its row of burried bodies.

            The difference is maybe, how long they struggled for their life.
            And – how it was communicated.

            VB6 users clearly new that VB.Net is radical breaking change. And they had years of VB1-VB6 before.

            iOS in XE2 only had a one year before suddenly disposed.
            That is not canceling unsuccessful project, nor was it “free bonus” like those Partner DVDs – that was promoting and selling unsuccessful project. A different story.

            I don’t care about Apple. And for years i do not trust no promises from B/CG/Emb. I hoped that would kept me from disillusions. But well, even discarding FMX and iOS apart, XE2 managed to surprise me. When the compiler *reverts* codeflow from what was asked by developer, and the fixing only deliberately starts after barrier put onto XE2, i cannot see it other ways than intentional “we like to sell you bugs” strategy. That what the BIND was accused of.

    4. What to you think is better to create better software …
      only read honey written text or pick up the bad things and make it better?

    5. @Pawel

      I would love to be more positive and have used the software since 93 odd I think it was.

      We just forked out for a product that was promised to have rapid updates to find the rapid updates dried up rapidly. Now to find FM1 and IOS which has proved to be buggy, slow and now dead.

      We are now expected to fork out for XE3 and get less than we had PLUS have the bonus of down the track forking out even more to get IOS back…….yeah I’m feeling the love right now

    6. That has got to be the most unprofessional message from Embarcadero I have seen yet.

  5. Well i feel ripped off again with my SA
    – No ios support
    – I need to buy another product for mobile development
    – So we’re getting actionslists in FM and new styles
    – New windows 8 menu

    I was waiting on this for deciding what I am using for some applications I have to build in the very near future. But this just makes me regretting getting SA or still saying Delphi is the tool.

    Actionlists should have been in version 1 of firemonkey for starters

  6. Deltics: you have my full support in your reviews to Embarcadero. Only criticism can make things better. We need more technical and less marqueting men. I sincerely believe that Embarcadero doing a compiler for ARM, sees no future to with VCL and sees mobile platform as output.

  7. You have everyone in a tizzy about purchasing the mobile product as a separate product when no official details about packaging have been released. But, hey, you’re not a negative guy. Of course not.

    Being the smart guy you are, I am sure you were wise enough to not bet the farm on a 1.0 product. Embarcadero took on many new initiatives with XE2, a new framework called Firemonkey and entry into OS X and iOS. You are sharp; you knew to proceed cautiously. Even Microsoft didn’t get .NET right on version 1.0.

    I knew when Delphi 2 came out not to move to 32-bit until Delphi 3 at the earliest. Certainly a man with such foresight as you would not have expected a fully functional product out of the starting gate.

    1. It’s not me that has everyone “in a tizzy”.

      The indication that Mobile Studio would eventually be a separately charged product was first hinted at as part of the Hamburg World Tour event and then again more clearly at the Sydney event.

      Now, if Embarcadero are back-tracking or reconsidering, then great. But if that was not the case at the outset, all they had to do was come right out and say “No, someone has misunderstood. This information is wrong. Mobile Studio will be included with Delphi and RAD Studio. No need to be concerned.

      They very noticeably have not said that, despite this question coming up on multiple occasions.

      What I have seen, from someone at Embarcadero (kicking myself for not grabbing a URL or screen shot, but I am 95% sure it was David I in a Google+ comment stream, but don’t hold me to that), was a response stating that Mobile Studio will not be part of Delphi and may be part of RAD Studio. I can’t find this answer now though and if Embarcadero are reconsidering, most likely it has been deleted.

      (it was my stumbling across this response that led to my “Poor show. VERY poor show” updated reply to David I on this blog).

      Malcolm Groves had this to say.

      Again, if Mobile Studio was going to be included with Delphi when it is released, they could just say that now. If they can’t say that now, why not ?

    2. Hmmm. Having used Delphi 2 myself for a little time maaaany moons ago, I could say that was not a bright release – but was a very usable and stable release, if you used it out-of-the-box. Had the same annoying problems of D1 (which I used much more than D2).

      D3 was the REAL version 1.0 on Win32. Dynamic packages made their premiere here, allowing non-traumatic component development to become an reality. (Someone can confirm if long string debuted on D3 or was in D2? I can’t say for sure). And was ROCKY STABLE.

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