My ultimate Delphi email address drawing

We all want a 1GB Gmail account, and we all love Delphi. So I'm going to randomly select one lucky registered Delphi 2005 user on January 1st 2005 and hand over my personal Delphi Gmail account complete with 1GB space and 5 invites still unused... Yes, it's the coveted one and only "Delphi at gmail dot com". This is not an official Borland contest or marketing thing. Just a personal thing I want to do to celebrate Delphi 2005 and say thanks to a lucky Delphi 2005 developer somewhere.

To enter:
- Send me an email at mswindell@borland.com with the subject "Ultimate Delphi email address contest" in the subject
- Include your registered Delphi 2005 Serial Number (no need to include your product activation #) in the body
- Be sure to include reliable contact information so that I can successfully hand over the account info if you are the winner
- Free free to include a note to me on what you think of Delphi 2005 so far
- You must purchase and receive your copy of Delphi 2005 and send me your entry before January 1st 2005

I'll announce the winner on Friday January 7th.

Good luck!
-Michael

P.S. If you publicly post about this please do not post the "actual" Delphi at gmail dot com address. It's currently a spam free account! ;o)

Why is Delphi 2005 the "must have" upgrade for Win32 developers?

A great question was posted in the Delphi newsgroups today:

"What would make me switch from Delphi 7 to Delphi 2005?"

This question is great because it's really the same for any Delphi Win32 developer using version v2 thru v7. The answer is that there are more new features for Win32 development than we've done in any previous version of Delphi. For Win32 development we focused on how we could improve, speed up, and add fun to every aspect of the day to day developer experience for every Delphi developer regardless of what type of application you are developing. And, at the same time helping you to produce higher quality code, fewer bugs, and improve team collaboration. In addition to all of that, Delphi 2005 still provides, out of the box, the most seamless migration to .NET of any programming language, period.

So, here are some reasons to upgrade - specifically for Win32 developers:

- New, "For In" loop iterator (worth the price of admission alone)
- New, Delphi compiler function inlining for executable performance increase
- New, Refactoring
   o extract method
   o declare field/variable
   o rename
   o extract to resource string
- New, SyncEdit - visually edit multiple occurances of a symbol simultaneously
- New, Error Insights
   o you'll find errors faster, and let fewer get by (plus it's fun to watch as you type)
- New Help Insights
   o on the fly VCL help for every object, property, and method
    - as well as for your own classes, functions, and procedures
- New, Integrated DUnit unit testing to automate creating and executing Unit tests
- New, Automatic multiple file backups - keeps a historical record of all file saves
- New, History Manager - view/diff/restore from any backup or starteam checkin
- Starteam Standard Edtion included in Delphi Enterprise and Architect Editions
- Enhanced, IntraWeb v7.2 RAD WYSIWYG Delphi Web development
- New, Deployment Manager - simplifies and automates deploying IntraWeb Applications
- Enhanced, Indy 10 Internet Protocol components
- Enhanced, Object Inspector
   o view and change properties of files in project manager and other IDE objects
- Enhanced, Tool Palette
   o Designed to easily find, organize, and access hundreds of components
   o In place filtered searching - ctrl-alt-p and just start typing the first few characters of what you're looking for
   o Access Gallery Wizards from Tool Palette - ie: ctrl-alt-p "u" to add a unit
- Enhanced, Interbase 7.5 Developer Edition
- Enhanced, Nevrona Rave Reports
- New, GlyFX Icon Library
- New, Component One ActiveX Enterprise Suite
- New, Sybase dbExpress driver
- Datasnap(Midas) royalty free deployment license
- Tons of Win32 debugger enhancements

plus a few .NET features to boot ;o) Delphi.NET, VCL.NET, .NET versions of Delphi data access technologies, C# support, ECO II, RAD for ADO.NET and hundreds of add'l .NET features

Nevrona Rave Reports in Diamondback?

Some people have noticed that Nevrona Rave Reports is not in the Borcon Diamondback Preview. Don't worry, Rave is going to be in Diamondback. The preview does not have every feature included or turned on. The preview is very much a beta and some features were not quite ready for public consumption. Starteam integration, for example, is not turned on in the Borcon Preview CD even though it was shown in the preview demo (John Sileski had a *special* build with Starteam enabled). The even better news is that both the VCL Win32 and VCL.NET versions of Rave Reports will be in Diamondback!

Borland to take on Visual Studio with Diamondback?

LOL. It makes for a catchy headline, but unfortunately this headline doesn't really reflect the article or the interview. The article is about our next Delphi. The headline and quote about going up against Microsoft and "taking on Visual Studio" is just plain... well odd. I should know, it was me the journalist was interviewing. So to be perfectly clear, with Diamondback we aren't trying to "take on" Visual Studio. Microsoft and the Visual Studio team are our friends and partner. The aim of Diamondback is to make the ultimate Windows development solution for our Delphi customers. It's not about one thing versus another, it's about developers, and building great apps for Microsoft Windows.

As a long time veteran of working with industry press it's not the first time I've seen a creative spin, nor will it be the last. Sensational headlines do get more eyes. And this is a good one. Why on earth should Borland "take on" Microsoft or Visual Studio? Microsoft and Borland are close partners in making great development products for Windows and .NET. Are Visual Studio and Delphi both IDEs for Windows? Sure, but we have a common goal - to provide developers with great tools for building applications for Windows. Microsoft is a close Borland partner, a terrific sponsor of our Borland conference, and has sponsored many Delphi events. In fact, just yesterday Rick LaPlante, the General Manager of Visual Studio Team System gave the Borcon Keynote, and included Danny Thorpe a Borland Chief Scientist and Delphi team member on stage in a demo of Delphi and Yukon technologies working together. And you don't have to look far to find Borland products like Starteam, CaliberRM, Together, and others that work with and integrate with Visual Studio to further enhance Windows development.

So then, with Diamondback, what or who are we "taking on"? We're taking on the increasing need to deliver software faster. We're taking on the problem of supporting existing investments and technologies while moving into the future with .NET. We're taking on the need for greater team communication. We're taking on the need for higher quality and more reliable software. The punchline is that the journalist actually got a lot of it, and it was a decent article about Delphi "Diamondback". It's too bad that for whatever reason, the headline on this one missed it. Next.

Delphi connectivity with J2EE and Corba

I'm interested in speaking with Delphi customers who have a need to connect Delphi .NET apps with J2EE app servers and Corba objects. You can contact me at mswindell@borland.com

Diamondback Rumors

Some rumors I read in the NGs and blogs last night:

Rumor: "I hope Diamondback is more than just Delphi 7 and Delphi 8 combined"
Fact: Way more. If it were just 7 & 8 combined, we'd just call it "Garter Snake"

Rumor: "Diamondback will be two IDEs one for Win32 and one for .NET"
Fact: Diamondback will be a single IDE :o)

Rumor: "Diamondback will include ECO for ASP.NET, Refactoring, and Unit Testing"
Fact: Thats just scratching the surface...

Rumor: "Danny, JohnK, Corbin, Jim and Allen are hotshots"
Fact: Heck ya

Rumor: "DiamondBack will be the best development tool in the world"
Fact: Alright, who broke their NDA? Someone call security please.

Learn about Diamondback at Borcon

Yes, rumors are true. We're working on something code named "Diamondback". It's the next big thing after Delphi 8. And it will definitely earn the "big thing" title. Delphi developers and Windows developers in general will want to be at Borcon in September to learn about, see, and possibly try out what we've been up to so far. As Allen mentioned in his Blog, you especially want to be around Monday night.

For information on how to sign-up for the conference and the costs, check out http://info.borland.com/conf2004/
For information on the various tracks and sessions that will be presented, go to http://info.borland.com/conf2004/tracks/allsessions.html