Prepare for Kylix: The Compiler and RTL

Borland/Inprise Web site has this article about Kylix - the Compiler and the RTL - what's going on, what will be in the Linux version, what's in and out. Developers who are planning to port applications from Windows to Linux (and vice versa?) would love this article. You may also want to take a look here if you don't know much about Kylix.

Comments

Borland is back!

[cribeiro]

I'm a user of Borland products since 1984. I actually used the first Turbo Pascal, v1.0. And it was amazing at the time. Imagine! Doing a complete edit-compile-run cycle in just a few seconds!

Time gone by, and Borland grew. At some time in the past they had a fairly broad line of compilers: Pascal, C, Basic, Assembler, and even Prolog! Now it's funny to think about the relation between developers and Borland at that time. A lot of developers loved Borland. They had it - fast compilers, support for several programming languages, passable editors and good libraries. Then came Windows.

I'm not sure how taht happened, but in a few months Borland lost all its momentum. And Microsoft got it right. And that was not only because of MS tactics, but MS got it right in several senses:

• Microsoft began its TechNet and similar programs. They had the best documentation available. Of course, being the sole provider of the OS helps a lot :-) Also the performance of MS compilers was being enhanced at the same time, so it was a no-brainer for the average C/C++ shop.
• On the other side, MS got Visual Basic. I know many people dislikes VB, but it was truly the first practical visual development environment. And don't tell me about Gupta SQL Windows and things like that. The design of their competitors was nice, but tools sucked. You need to factor the popularity of VBXs that allowed Joe Programmer to ship Windows apps in a few days.

Years later, Delphi (and BC++) saved Borland from bankrupt. In my opinion Delphi is another amazing feat. They got everything that was right in the VB concept, and added their own spice. Popularity grew once again. However, all of this was not sufficient to make them a viable alternative to the now gigantic MS monopoly.

Now we have a Linux version of the works. And I think that Borland can make it happen again. They know how to make it, as shown with Delphi. And I think that their entry will start a flow of activity in the Linux marketplace as not seen before. Let's face it - for a large commecial project, getting all those makefiles and dependencies right is a pain. Also most of the technical factors that were against Borland effort on the Windows market dont exist at all in Linux (see the hidden APIs). It's just a matter of getting it right once again. Given that, I think that they will have a very bright future, while helping Linux to lift one more restriction to win market share in the business side.

Prepare

[earache]

While everyone is excited that a favorite development tool is coming to linux, I'm curious if anyone is thinking forward to what this will do for linux as an OS.

I've been using Delphi since version 1.0 and I can't, make that won't, imagine myself using anything else because it simply doesn't make economic sense in terms of prototype deployment, time to market, etc. I'm not entirely certain the average slashdot head truly comprehends how powerful Delphi exactly is, and how easy and mildly idiot proof it makes developing.

With Kylix will come quite a few Windows developers excited to provide their products for both OS's; but is Joe Blow linux guy prepared for the intrusion of Windows application economics and is John Doe Windows developer prepared for the linux market?

Ironically there is another article on Slashdot regarding MIDI sequencers and audio editing software; which happens to be the two things I've developed in Delphi and am dying to get to Linux as soon as I have kylix in hand. I know several other Delphi developers that feel the same way. I honestly believe that with the release of kylix will come a serious change in the Linux landscape; and are people prepared for that?

- the sinister mister earache.

The actual information about Kylix is located...

[SuperKendall]

here instead of wherever the main article was pointing.

Short summary sentance from the page:

Kylix is a "Linux component based development environment for two-way visual development of graphical user interface (GUI), Internet, database, and server applications."