Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene #58
01 Mar
- CodeGear made more money.
- I’ve been going around the world telling people that we will be "continuously improving and frequently updating the help". Well, pursuant to that, we have released another help update. Please download it and give it a look. And please be sure to tell all your friends about it.
- The indefatigable Pawel Glowacki has a great article on the new dbExpress metadata classes.
- Thomas Pfister does a good job talking about the distinctions between InterBase and Blackfish SQL
- I have this theory that we can bring down the juggernaut that is Microsoft if we can just burn through all the GUID’s there are — so you need to go to http://www.get-a-guid.com/ and hit the refresh button about a hundred times. Just think what would happen if every possible GUID got used up!
I can’t find the download anywhere on the registered users download page…
February 29th, 2008 at 6:56 pmThe numbers suggested in that article seem to suggest that CG’s recent deal with Russia was done either for free or pennies per unit. While I never exepected it be full retail per unit, I had hoped for signs of a larger cash influx in the short term. Of course, I am still hoping that by educating people with the products that it can lead to stronger long term profitability.
That said, it’s time to start working on the north american market. Let them know that there is a product out there OTHER than C++ and Java huh? Maybe if more people are fluent in Delphi, more Delphi opportunities will grow. (I hate thinking in C/C++ - it hurts my head to think backwards)
I think you would have to actively use all the guids you request… Now let’s see, how big would a registry filled with all possible 128bit guids have to be…
And I’m still not convinced that Blackfish is on the right track, after all, I can (and do) just side step interbase and Blackfish’s deployment licenses by using FireBird.
I guess someone would have to rock my world with proof that paying for deployment licenses on a size and connectivity limited product had such overwhelming benefits over other products that I should ignore the fully capable and seriously less limited offerings from other groups (be they free or just plain cheaper).
March 1st, 2008 at 12:28 amWhere in the financial report does it say that Borland -or- Codegear made money? It seems like Borland has taken on more debt, to the tune of 200 million, and lost more money. Explain?
March 1st, 2008 at 1:03 amCJohnson: It’s unlikely that the Russian deal made it into the 2007 Q4 figures.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:19 amI agree with Thomas, there is no place on the download page that shows the Help Update 2.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:12 amThomas,
March 1st, 2008 at 5:20 aminstead of the registered page try the "Check for Updates tool" in your RAD, this works.
from the App here in Germany:
Feb08 Help (DE)
WICHTIG: Bitte besuchen Sie folgende URL bevor Sie das Update installieren. http://dn.codegear.com/de/article/37601/
"CodeGear made more money", but Borland refused to tell us how much. This is quite annoying…. (see also my blog for more details).
March 1st, 2008 at 5:37 amRoddy -> True, but I assume it made it into the estimates for 2008 income, which they are predicting to be lower than 2007.
Rarely do you see such a large deal and a forcasted reduction in profit.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:10 pmPratt –
I’m sorry that my little joke wasn’t humorous to you. Please forgive me.
Nick
March 1st, 2008 at 5:20 pmAbout the help files…
I know a fairly large company which uses Delphi, and where they simply don’t use the new help which is shipped with RAD 2007. Instead, they keep the Delphi 7 Help system on the side, for reference.
I think that’s more than a bit telling.
I think all the new help documentation should be ported back to a format which can be used with the old Help reader. Or, alternatively, I think you should write a new CodeGear-only help reader, which takes help data in the new format, but which displays it in the same manner as in Delphi 7.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:04 pmI’ve lost 1/2 of my Borland stock (bought when 5 something - on hopes of Codegear). Do I hold on or bail?
Probably bail and cut losses…and at least save some money on purchasing Visual Studio 2008 Standard - saving $100 on a NEW VS - vs an upgrade from Turbo Pro to 2007!
March 1st, 2008 at 9:41 pmIs it Codegears official view that Microsoft should be taken down ? Without Microsoft there would not be Borland/Codegear. Maybe you should post your personal views in a private blog.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 amPratt,
Nick was being facetious. It’s been an ongoing joke asking what would happen if all the GUIDs were to be used.
Or were you also being facetious?
Allen.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 amRe: CodeGear earnings…
Wait for the required SEC filings to appear (10K, 10Q). Those filings should have the actual numbers broken out. The earnings release was the complete rollup since we’re officially still part of Borland.
Allen.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 amAllen:-
Re: SEC filings - Codegear profit figures were broken out in at least the last two quarters earnings calls - as well as the SEC filings. I guess we’re just confused that the same wasn’t done this time.
Re: GUIDs: Maybe they *have* already been used up. We’ll never know…
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm@Luigi D. Sandon:
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 amYou don’t need to download again for other machines:
After installation of this update you’ll find a new folder below your documents: Rad_Studio_Help_Downloads
Copy those files to you other machines and run Feb08 Help.exe
Thank you for the help update, but make it available as a single download from the registered user page, please.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 amOtherwise upgrading more than one developer, or more than one machine (desktop/notebook) just wastes a lot of bandwith.
Nick,
On a side note, why aren’t the FREE 3rd party tools (CodeHealer, Beyond Compare, etc) available to registered Delphi 2007 users? Apparently, this download is available to registered Delphi 2006 users *only*. I’m not a registered Delphi 2006 user, and apparently, I cannot download these free tools. Am I being punished for owning the latest and greatest version instead of the previous one(s)?
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:54 amAchim: Yes, it’s fine doing the auto download and copying the files. But the point is that the CDN article about the HelpUpdate2 (http://dn.codegear.com/article/37542) has a link to downloading the help update and it isn’t there. Not everyone reads Nicks blogs (though they should!). I often read complaints about the user friendliness of Delphi & the community - so either removing the link from the article or adding the download to the downloads page probably makes sense, correct?
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 amStefan –
Those particular tools were a one time promotional bundle for BDS2006 — but we can look at perhaps doing something like that for the 2007 products.
Rich — we are working on getting the ZIP file of the help update to the registered user page.
Nick
March 5th, 2008 at 2:29 amNick,
I’ve just made it compulsory for anyone in my team that introduces a bug to press ctrl-shift-g a thousand times.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:30 amI suggest you make this punishment part of the Delphi help
After all, we strive to write good software. That’ll teach them!
Thaddy –
That’s the spirit!
Nick
March 11th, 2008 at 10:42 am