BL> Hope? I haven't seen Delphi yet, it's v1.0, and you won't tell me
BL> how much. Is this your best sales pitch, or do you come around and
BL> kick my dog? It was bad enough when you tried to rip my flower garden
BL> out. This morning, it loked like a bear had been through there. Maybe
BL> two bears...

Ha! What did it look like after you decided that you didn't want it ?
I told the boys to mess it up _real_good_.

BL> I'm not sure how Delphi fits into my wider scheme of things.

What fucking "scheme" are you talking about ?
There is no scheme Bob, it's all a farce.

BL> There is no *one* language that does what I want; I need two, and
BL> probably ASM as well. As it stands, C is the mainstream programming
BL> language and VB is close to being mainstream. DOS isn't dead yet either.

No DOS isn't dead, but I wouldn't exactly call Pascal an orphan.

BL> Pascal is an orphan, and Delphi will join it unless it is very good.
BL> Delphi may be a do-all language and bring Pascal into the mainstream,
BL> or it may drop dead.

ROFL...Wake up Bob.
What does it matter if Delphi or Borland do drop dead ?
If the product is good you just keep using it. I make most of my
income from a product which stopped shipping 5 years ago. I use it
every day and whilst I await the next version, it really doesn't
matter if the company goes broke. It won't affect me or my work.

When they stopped shipping the version that I am now using, they
came out with an "all-singing all-dancing, you beaut, go fast"
version which was an absolute piece of shit. It was so terrible that
I didn't even bother getting the upgrade. They have recently shipped
a Windoze version which looked good so I bought it. I have had it
sitting on my shelf for 3 months and haven't had a chance to install
it yet because I still earn my income from DOS applications. They
are now working on the next version of their DOS product and I have
been asked to help Beta test it. I hope it is good but if it isn't I
won't be that worried. The point is, if it works then nothing else
matters.

BL> If Delphi is a step between C and Basic using Pascal and the ease of
BL> VB, and able to do Windows and DOS too, with a fast run-time assembler,
BL> then I am very interested. Otherwise, I start worrying about v1.0 and
BL> Borland going broke.

See above. If it works, who cares ?
Mind you, a reference manual would be nice.

BL> Did you read that invitation? Pascal is not mentioned, and they say:
BL> "Borland Australia will continue to provide technical support and
BL> customer service in partnership with RR Donnely and a *yet to be
BL> announced* support company..."

Can't say that I read it.

BL> To me, this reads, "up your arse and farewell Australia... you are
BL> now on your own."


Nope. It means that they are learning from Micro$haft and they are
now charging for support and using 3rd party companies to provide it.
Sadly, this has now become the "norm" :(

BL> They then list the products: C++, Delphi, dbase and Paradox... no
BL> Pascal. It is also significant that they list Delphi second, above the
BL> two databases. They hope Delphi will save them. Wanna bet?

Vb is Mickey$ofts most popular language product. Turbo Pascal was
the product which built Borland, so I don't see why Delphi can't
save it.

BL> It also says that they were at the PC95 show... "Delphi will be
BL> domonstrated on the Essentially Sopftware stand..."
BL>  Bloody hell! They are releasing a program that is going to save
BL> them, a fourth of their total inventory, and they can't even afford a
BL> stand at PC95. I'm suprised they didn't use Hardly Normal. Maybe he
BL> didn't want them. It made such a great impact that I didn't even see
BL> it, and that was the only reason I went... to see Delphi!

True, although NOBODY had any stocks when PC-95 was on. This may
have been why it wasn't available. You must also consider that they
have just been through somewhat of a management shakedown so I'm not
that surprised that nobody thought to book some stand space at a
mickey mouse show.

Cheers, Brenton
@EOT:

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