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.