Delphi 2007 for Win32 is "Out the Door"
16 Mar
Yep, it’s true. We signed off. At about 0430 this morning, after being up most of the night. We got people out of bed, fixed filename-casing problems, and tested all the various install options one last time. The DVD is on it’s way out to manufacturing all around the world, and the ISD ( a term I coined internally, meaning "instantaneous software delivery") should be all set and ready to go. Here are somethings I’ve learned and thought about on the way:
- People write some petty crazy blog posts at two in the morning.
- The management team I work with is a really good bunch of guys. They are all totally dedicated to releasing a quality product. We talk constantly about what customers want, about how the customer experience will be, about doing things to make customers happy. I have to give a special shout out to Integration Manager Tom Avila. Nothing — and I mean nothing — perturbs this guy. He was a cool as a cucumber through the whole stressful process of getting this thing out the door, and steadily got the job done. A true pro.
- I have said this before: Some folks admire sports figures. Other freak out over musicians or movie stars. Me? I’m a groupie of the Delphi R&D and QA teams. These guys and gals are so smart, so capable, and do such cool things. It’s an honor to work with them. The best part of this job is going to work everyday in a building full of seriously smart people.
- Pursuant to that, here’s something I said a couple of day ago that might not sound totally right, but which was said with nothing but the utmost respect: "Good GRIEF! Man, I wish Joseph [a QA Engineer for VCL -- ed.] would just go home and stop submitting issues! Would somebody put a lock on this guys door?". The QA team did an incredible job of finding all sorts of install, configuration, and install issues in the past few weeks — to the point of driving us to distraction. We nailed down and sorted out tons of things in the last few weeks, and we couldn’t have done it without guys like Joseph.
- I don’t know how I did it, but I’ve eaten little but burritos, Twinkies, candy bars, and pizza over the last two weeks, and I still managed to lost a pound. Weird.
- The wild thing about this past week is that we managed to release a product and put together the CodeRage conference. It was really fun to put together the talks for the Delphi R&D engineers. I think they all did a great job, and hopefully gave you a lot of good information. The cool part is that all the talks will be posted for your viewing in the coming days. But I seriously have no idea how I recorded seven presentations and got all the work done for the release.
- I find it amazing that we released all four spoken languages on one DVD image in the few months we had to make all that happen. This makes a huge difference for us going forward. Historically, R&D and QA would be spending weeks after English RTM getting out the international versions of the products. But now, because of some seriously good work by the International team, we are able to press forward with new stuff right away. Seriously cool.
- In the end, I think that Delphi 2007 for Win32 is a terrific release. I’m proud of it, my first full product here at CodeGear. I hope that you guys like it — I really believe that it is a product born out of what you guys asked us for.
Nick,
I, for one, would not have been able to put together a CodeRage session this week without your help. There was just too much going on with Spacely. Thanks for all that you did to make sure our sessions were presentable.
Chris
March 16th, 2007 at 5:45 pmI can’t see any way to upgrade from Turbo Pro to Delphi 2007…
I guess I’m gonna miss out on that CodeRage discount
nix
March 16th, 2007 at 7:48 pmI am really looking forward to getting my hands on Delphi 2007! I, too, thought that CodeRage was a success. And, I took advantage of the discount to purchase a license for Delphi for PHP. I have always had a "back of my mind" interest in PHP, and who better to produce a "Delphi-style" IDE than CodeGear! Keep on truckin’!
March 16th, 2007 at 9:09 pmNix,
No you can’t as it stands as the upgrade pricing from Turbo Pro 2006 hasnt been finalised. Exactly same position here.
Ive asked about it and been told several times that the SKUs are been prepared since I found out earlier this week.
I was quite vocal on blogs etc late Feburary about there been an upgrade path when during a Delphi Hour It was stated there was no Upgrade path from Turbo to other Editions and passed on my $0.02 about what pricing should be. It was then announced on blogs etc that there was now going to be an upgrade path from Turbos and it was been looked at. Then a list of editions of Delphi including the Turbos as been eligable for upgrade pricing was posted ( Has list been removed/edited out now ? ) So with the absence of any more information I assumed ( wrongly as it turned out ) that for simplicity they had decided to have one upgrade price to D2007 Win32 Pro for all old editions of a similar level and the Turbo Pro’s and thought no more about it until closer to D2007 Win32 release date.
Didnt realise this was not the case until Nick stated that upgrade pricing from Turbo to D2007 hadnt been finalised during Coderage Sessions on Monday.
I then emailed Christine during Coderage saying what I was looking to order with the 25% and basically asking for confirmation that my understanding was correct that upgrade pricing wasnt finialised for Turbo Pro upgrade pricing and reporting one issue I found on the UK store. I guess with the 100s of mails she must have been getting at the time for coderage she didnt see it .
There have also been a catalogue of other problems with the UK Online store during the week.
The reissued Promo code for the UK store hasnt worked all day and the cutoff is in a few minutes here. I reported this during closing keynote and was told that an Email would be sent out to people in UK etc with further information. I havent received anything.
Tryed UK Store numerous times since as I was very tempted in the end to get New User D2007 Win32 with SA and write off the £200 I spent on Delphi Turbo Pro 2006 a few months back. Could just about afford it if I got 25% off the New User price. Alas it been continual ‘Invalid Promo Code’
C’est la vie I guess
March 16th, 2007 at 10:00 pmHi.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:13 amYou are linking to your harddrive. Delphi 2007 for win32.
I can’t read it
Yes, I can fully understand your frustration, Derek. As I pointed out in Ben’s blog, CodeRage did, in my opinion, the BIG mistake of releasing stuff after a long night in a very busy week. And what for? To be able to say at the end of CodeRage that "it was live"?? In the convoluted way it was done, it looks more that it was half-dead/half-live! Or maybe even only 10% live or something, judging from their e-shops problems and self-created problems, like preventing EEC based stores from selling to other EEC member countries!
IMO, it would be better to have those guys take a rest from this busy week and maybe properly release it next Monday, Tuesday, even Wednesday, but at least have it done properly… Releasing their first Delphi ESD only "to be on some sort of internal schedule", and leaving quality very much out of the delivery process, is not what one would expect after all of CodeGear’s talk about "quality" being on the top of their priorities… Many users like Derek and myself sure didn’t feel any "quality" in the whole delivery process…
It kind of makes one wonder whether the new Delphi for Win32 is *really* a quality product as they say. For me, the whole experience that I reported on Ben’s blog simply made me switch from a position of early adopter into one of "wait a few months and see what others say after they give the new (quality?) product a few months of real usage."
Oh well, no big deal I guess: they can afford the sales loss, as long as the product itself turns out to be as good as they say and certainly it has to be much better than this distribution thing…
Final note for Nick, Ben or whoever was responsible for this "release Friday to be in time for the end of CodeRage decision": better show us, developers around the world, that you care less about "nice release dates" and more about the quality of those releases…
Later,
March 17th, 2007 at 1:17 amFernando Madruga
Just a note for those reading my 1st bad impressions with Delphi for Win32 release that DavidI and Michael are currently trying to help me sort those problems.
From their words, I’m confident we can find a way to solve those issues. If that works ok, then they’ll have restored my faith on CodeGear… Nothing like wait a couple days and see what happens.
Later,
March 17th, 2007 at 8:09 amMadruga
I only wonder why your prices for Europe are 16% higher then in US/Canada. I could understand box versions - shipping costs etc.
but why ESD?
But if you say: because everything is cheaper in US - I understand
Marcin
March 17th, 2007 at 9:34 amThe url at the end of the blog points to:
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/nhodges/My%20Documents/RAD%20Studio/Projects/Delphi%202007%20for%20Win32
March 17th, 2007 at 10:58 amDerek –
I’m sorry that we haven’t gotten the Turbo upgrades squared away for you.
Send me an email and I’ll connect you with the right person and honor the 25% discount.
Nick
March 17th, 2007 at 11:08 amHi Nick,
I am anticipating the upgrade path from Turbo Pro to D2007 Enterprise. In a previous blog you informed me that such a path is/will be available. Will the upgrade price be same as the standard upgrade price which is USD $1,299, or you plan a different pricing system for Turbo Upgrades?
I hope the whole plan will become clear soon. Our local dealer is offering a discount until 21th March and I want to order before this offer ends.
Thanks
March 17th, 2007 at 11:24 amWell done guys. But where are the examples stored?Ken
March 17th, 2007 at 12:39 pmCongratulations, Nick! Great work. And only the first of many great RTMs, I’m sure.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:14 pmNick.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:35 pmJust emailed you.
Im impressed now by the responsiveness of CG staff in general over the issues that have arisen.
Nick,
To be honest, CodeGear/Borland is starting to straighten things after your arrival. I ordered my 2007 Upgrade after years of using Delphi 6. The main reason for me to change my mind is the dedication shown by CodeGear by releasing another hotfix for BDS 2006 earlier this month. I hope this kind of service will win back the lost customer base. Once again, thank you so much for bringing back the confidence in CodeGear.
-Jim
March 17th, 2007 at 2:00 pmKen –
The examples had to be moved:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Documents\RAD Studio
I’ll do a blog post right now about it.
Nick
March 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pmNick:
Congratualtions. You’ve done a wonderful job with Delphi. Kudos to Michael, Ben and the rest of the team for the latest relase -Delphi 2007. It is awesome!
I am confident Delphi 2007 will go down in the annals of Delphi lore as one of the greatest ever. Its that good.
I appreciate all your efforts returning Delphi to her former glory. With you at the helm of the USS Delphi, she has a bright future indeed with the best yet to come. I would like to nominate you for the CMH (CodeRageous Medal of Honor). You desrve it.
Tom Martin
March 18th, 2007 at 2:47 pmDelphi Centurion
Please update the news in Delphi Direct (Delphi 7) so users get to know what is happening in CodeGear.
March 18th, 2007 at 6:38 pmGood stuff Nick,
I agree - Joseph is a pro! We also had members of my team helping the Delphi for PHP product, and the crazy thing was - they were doing it with a smile and a grin. There is a huge sense of positive energy in Scotts Valley.
Just wanted to clarify a point - we were NOT rushing the product out the door to meet ‘CodeRage’. Actually we were working on a number of last minute issues, and got them right, before we released. Initially we had hoped to release a week earlier.
I’d like to thank the folks the R&D team, QA team, new Doc team, Integration team, localization team (all around the world this time!) and especially the Field Test and the Field Test Marshals. Truly a team effort.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:19 pmWell, as promised by DavidI and Michael, I got contacted yesterday (Monday) and placed my order yesterday. Shame the "ESD" delivery process is not so "instant" around here.
But I hope that later today I’ll be "up and running". Meanwhile, I’ve decided to start a blog of my own to report my experiences with Delphi…
Later,
March 20th, 2007 at 4:38 amMadruga
Just a note for those still reading this and having trouble with local ESD purchases: check my blog (click the name in the comment) for a "possible" way to make your purchase. It may be worth giving it a try…
Later,
March 20th, 2007 at 8:43 amMadruga
What would happen if CodeGear were run by Klingons?
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:01 amhttp://www.aumha.org/a/klingon.php
jj
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:14 pmApparently the European office is run by Vulcans!
March 24th, 2007 at 9:45 am