February 14, 2017
To celebrate another year of success for Delphi. I dug a bit in my archive. Here are a few old images, mostly ads from Borland, before and after the product release.
To celebrate another year of success for Delphi. I dug a bit in my archive. Here are a few old images, mostly ads from Borland, before and after the product release. You can find a higher resolution version of these images at https://goo.gl/photos/WeWa3wEL9xDYAp179. Here are smaller versions, with some comments.
It is interesting to notice how the original business value (increased productivity for developers) is still true today with a totally changed landscape, mobile, and all. We could re-use some of the original ads, as they make sense today. The other things I noticed is that most of the other tools that were popular back than, have long been forgotten. Delphi, on the other hand, is still popular.
The Original Product Box
The Trio of the Thickest Delphi 1 Books
Mine, Charlie's and Pacheco/Teixeira where the 3 classic books covering Delphi in all of its angles, and became classic books, all with many editions for following versions. I guess I have them all...
Before Delphi, Was Turbo Pascal
Before Delphi came along, the language, its earlier (and different) OOP model and Windows integration were already there. But Delphi had a new object model in the language, the concept of components, and a new library, including strong database access, and it was a breaking change from previous Turbo Pascal products.
And Borland had a magazine, here you can see the editor:
Here Comes Delphi
Delphi RAD to ROI. We should use this more today!
Visual Basic done Right... The RADical performance... ready for Windows 95. Development got easier (with the family of Borland tools). Even if the product was a bit simpler (with the product matrix fitting a single page) it was powerful.
And magazines focused to it, for which I occasionally wrote articles.
Delphi Prizes
And Delphi won many prices, celebrated when Delphi 2 shipped. See the Jolt Award announcement ("Borland is back") and description:
Delphi 2 and Delphi 3
The easy of VB with the power of C++. On Time and on Budget. Power and performance. And some reviews.
Delphi and a Duck: an anticipation of things to come...
More "Recent" Versions
Delphi 4 (pushing rocks?), Delphi 5 and the Net (meaning Internet... but kind of cryptic), Delphi 6, Kylix (Linux we are coming back real soon!), Delphi 7, Delphi 8 and .NET (ugh!). And a big push towards modeling!
Delphi BirthDay Page
I still and always have Delphi 1 launch information at a page of my regular web site, http://www.marcocantu.com/delphibirth/. But enough of history, I'll start blogging on the Delphi language coming back to Linux tomorrow!
posted by
marcocantu @ 11:04AM | 33 Comments
[0 Pending]
33 Comments
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Thanks for the post, some serious bells rung there. I
remember the buzz of getting a nice cheque from The
Delphi Magazine for some tips and tricks published!
Comment by boardtc
[http://reducekeystokes.com]
on February 14, 14:42
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Delphi is my love.
Thank you
Comment by Komail
[http://www.tazarv.com]
on February 15, 07:12
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
This is a really great product!
Comment by Tom YU on February 15, 10:51
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Thanks for posting such many images!
Amazing how David I showed vision of a "large
marketplace of reusable objects". Idea has evolved to a
central repositories like GetIt and Delphinus.
Comment by IL
[]
on February 15, 10:58
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Delphi and native code in general rocks. And for quick and dirty you
can use your favorite script language with native bindings.
But please - do something about your pricing. I'm not saying anything
needs to be free, but at least split the product into smaller units (e.g.
Windows VCL only) and make those units cheaper.
Comment by Fritz on February 15, 12:34
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Yay, Marco, you're still around!
I started with Turbo Pascal as a next step after BASIC a long, long
time ago, and I remember puzzling myself crazy after Turbo Pascal
With Objects 5.5 came out - I must have re-read the book about the
objects umpteen times, staring at the way the VMT worked in
desperation as to try to get my head around it.
Delphi was very good to me for a great many years. I ended up on
the eventually-abandoned Delphi for .NET side of things and doing
the 'Delphi Prism' thing - which I attempted a number of times -
was just way too big a job.
The Borland software conferences were some of the great
highlights of my professional life. There was always something
new to learn, and some of it carried me for years. I was still pulling
things from Steve Teixeira's security in web services session over
five years later. I'm positive I went to one of your sessions as well
:)
Thanks for the memories :)
Comment by Ritchie Annand
[http://nimblebrain.net]
on February 15, 15:57
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
First, Delphi, since v. 2, has been my favorite
language. The first job I had was DB programming using
Delphi on Oracle.
Second, thanks for all your publications on Delphi,
many of which I've used!
Comment by Dr. MopisheP on February 15, 18:04
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
It was the best time ever
Comment by Richard Haven on February 15, 18:07
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Thanks for posting the Delphi version history. It has
taken me back to those days when I started to switch
from dBase IV and Clipper to Delphi 3. I learned
Delphi 3 from your book and started developing core
banking system (CBS) in Delphi 3, 5 and 7. The CBS now
has 70% market share in domestic market.
I love DELPHI and It still Rocks.
Comment by Surendra Siddhi Bajracharya
[www.pumoriplus.com.np]
on February 17, 05:39
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
David surely hasn't changed much in 22 years.
Comment by Thomas on February 17, 07:57
CC -> Hypervision -> Turbo C 1.0 ->Turbo C 2.0 ->AppBuilder
That was my approximate path to Delphi.
Being a C shark from the outset, coding on Xenix and Unix
computers back in the 80's, I was tasked to do some code for
Windows 2.0... I didnt like MS compiler and all the window
management needed, but I did find a scriptable spreadsheet called
Hypervision or something of the kind. That was my first
Windows program.
I continued to be a C guy, but one day a co worker introduced me
to a pirate copy of AppBuilder... which was the codename for
Delphi 1.0 before it was released. From then on... Im always
coming back to Delphi even though having taken many trips
around Java, C++ and C# due to various projects.
But my favorite is Delphi.
Comment by Kim Madsen
[http://www.components4developers.com]
on February 18, 13:46
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
22 year ago I had been recruited to rewrite an application in Foxpro.
There were buggy betas for the new Win 32 Foxpro availabe but a
company called Borland were shipping shrinkwrapped Delphi 1.0.
We went with Delphi and never looked back. I chose Delphi for my
latest project. Good decision then, Good decision now.
Happy Birthday Delphi!
Comment by Simon Hooper on February 22, 11:45
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Thanks for the reminder Marco! Your books really helped me in
the early days.
Like some others I got into Delphi via Turbo C, Turbo Pascal and
then Delphi. I've been with it ever since and even resisted the .Net
storm.
My business started around the same time as Delphi and as for a
small company it's a great help in terms of productivity. From my
POV the IDE has always been the best. Add to this now, I think
without doubt it's the best tool for multi platform development
which looks like it will be given another boost with forthcoming
Linux support.
May it rock for another 22 years..
Comment by Mark Stevens on February 22, 12:04
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Wow that takes me back. I started with TurboPascal on dual floppy
disks. One pass compile everything but it was still so much faster to
build than anything else out there. Later used Delphi 3.0 for some
enterprise projects. Now I wish I had kept the packaging from those,
I would post pictures but long long gone.
Comment by Gord Irish
[http://irishdba.wordpress.com]
on February 22, 15:54
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
I began my work with microcomputers with a basic
course in BASIC and then moved on to Turbo Pascal 3.0.
I loved working with Pascal and to this day it is
probably still my favorite language of my entire very
long career.
Unfortunately, I was turned to the Dark Side with
Visual Basic 1.0 since the corresponding Borland
Pascal package for Windows was as difficult as C++.
Today, I am a software engineer working with Visual
Studio, VB.NET, and C#.
I keep on thinking about returning to Pascal but I
have too many projects going on to take the time for it.
Nonetheless, the article was a great walk down "memory
lane"; days I still wish were with us since the
technical profession had a sense of excitement and far
more honesty than it does today (in my opinion)...
Comment by Steve Naidamast
[http://www.blackfalconsoftware.com]
on February 22, 15:54
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Been around since the first version. I actually stayed on Version 7 or
over ten years! (That's a compliment to it's usefuleness.) Still on XE5.
Comment by Cecil S Albrecht
[http://www.themarsgroup.com]
on February 22, 16:05
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Wow, is that a great walk. I remember so many of
those! But what I miss the most was the low bar for
entry. As a hobby developer, Delphi is shutting us
out. I blogged about it at the above link.
Comment by Martin
[http://itsecurity.co.uk/2016/06/delphi-disillusion/http://]
on February 22, 16:45
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
You're missing the previous 20 year's worth of
history by not mentioning that all the Delphi
developments were based on the original UCSD Pascal
which created the concept of Units, which included
Interface and Implementation in the same re-useable
files. That was the first to separate the external
component definition from the internal representation.
It was also the first system to provide operating
system independence. I bought v3.1 in 1979 for a 64Kb
Z80, and still use exactly the same code today to run
my business!
Comment by joe on February 22, 20:15
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
I wrote my first programs in Borland Pascal in 1984 or 1985 (and on
an IBM PC with two floppy disk drives). 30-plus years later, and
Pascal/Delphi still rocks. Philippe Kahn was a wildman of sorts and
tried to extend Borland from languages to applications, with a
spreadsheet and a database. There was a brief period when it looked
like there would be meaningful competition between Borland and
Microsoft, but Borland over-extended itself. What a trip it's been.
Comment by Alex Makowski
[http://alexmakowski.com]
on February 22, 21:43
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
I was fortunate that the company I joined after
college in 1981 used Delphi, as it led to my immersion
in the system (otherwise I might not have been
introduced to it). After years of FORTRAN,
Assemblers, and other tools, I loved using Delphi: in
return for having some discipline forced on me by the
syntax rules, my programming became easier.
I am now self-employed, which means that I don't ever
have to use C++ or C# again!
Comment by John Algeo
[http://www.algeoconsulting.com]
on February 22, 23:42
Yes - It still rocks
After all these years, none of the recent development paradigms/tools
feel "just right" as Delphi. I'm talking about that feeling, when you
build all your code and watch the compiler progress gradually
without any errors and you know that you have a rock solid, stable
executable in the end.
Thanks for the memories.
Comment by Behcet Tolga on February 23, 10:47
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
My Life changed when i decide to use Delphi and still does!!!
Happy Birthday Delphi!!!!!
Comment by Carlos Manuel Herrera
[http://www.pracsys.com.ar]
on February 24, 17:07
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
We need a community version of Delphi to extend its
use!!!
Comment by Marco Somoza on February 24, 22:18
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
In Borland's time, several versions of Delphi were distributed
distributed free of charge in computer magazines. They
They came with full-length CDs, which could be used
used for both study and professionally.
I learned a lot from Delphi 2, 3, 4.
At Embarcadero time nothing is FREE, everything is
is paid for and expensive. Trial for 30 days? No thank
thank you.
It's worth remembering that for many years
Microsoft has offered Visual Studio forever for free, including
including for commercial use, in the Express versions
versions and later the Community version.
The Embarcadero needs to change its selfish politics
politics immediately.
Comment by Wilson Cross on February 25, 12:34
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Really good! I did start on Delphi 2... but still with
Delphi and more. Thanks for your blog. (From
Venezuela)
Comment by Abner Hernandez
[none]
on February 25, 18:34
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
I remember my first Pascal program in 1984 (using another compiler)
and the first contact with Turbo Pascal in 1984, running on a CP/M
expansion card in an Apple II. Pascal Language is a geat
programming language.
When Borland created Delphi, it becames even better.
I'm still using Delphi. The best compiler/language I ever known in 33
years.
Comment by Arthur E.F.Heinrich
[]
on February 26, 00:54
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Double Thank you! For Borland and for you Marco, made it 20 years
ago my language number # 1, and his books have become here in
Brazil definitive refence on Delphi, success for you and the entire
development team by the support. And long life to Delphi!
Comment by José Ricardo Aviles
[http://www.redid.com.br]
on February 27, 12:39
Long gone
Sorry, but I tend to disagree.
De Delphi days are sadly over.
Most of the development is moving to the web and the
development is taken over by the horrors of JavaScript
and dependency hell of npm
Comment by Miha on February 28, 06:44
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
I was started from Turbo Pascal 3, TP5, TP7,
Delphi3, Delphi2009, xe4 y Xe7 by now, i wrote several
several aplications working as part of big systems and apps
and apps mainly to administrative tasks.
I use TP3 to write prg programs to dbase before Sidekick
Sidekick apears, then I wrote a dBase clone on TP5, my
my own dBase work on apps compiled on TP7 until Delphi3
Delphi3 simplified my life.
Quickly, Faster and Easy way to make Windows Applications
Applications, That is Delphi.
Hello from Mérida and Cancún, Mexico.
Comment by willy yanes on February 28, 21:08
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Wilson, you write "The Embarcadero needs to change its selfish
politics politics immediately." I guess you missed the fact that Delphi
Starter is available for free to anyone -- yes kind of like a Community
edition. Only limitation is you cannot use it for business use (over
1,000 USD /year). It has the Delphi compiler, RTL, VCL for
Windows. Same on the C++ side.
Comment by Marco Cantu
[http://twitter.com/marcocantu]
on March 1, 16:14
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Too bad Embarcadero didn't get the Borland name - I
still tend to say "Borland Delphi" etc.
Good to see there is now a free edition for training use.
It is great see small focused cross platform apps like
EarMaster.
Keep on Truckin'
Comment by MarkT
[http://www.self.org/]
on June 27, 02:00
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
Happy birthday my dear Delphi !!
Delphi is one of the most important sources of happines and
pleasure in my life.
I'm also very familiar with Visual Studio for desktop and web
apps. I never truly accepted ADO.NET (both Datasets or Entity
framework). It just too complicated for my taste compared to the
elegance and simplicity of TDataset paradigma and always
connected datasets.
I'm using Delphi since version 3 and now using Starter 10.1 (both
VCL and FM) + Zeos Access components (for access to MS SQL,
MySQL and Oracle databases) + Fortes Report + licensed version
14 of Intraweb.
Please mr. Cantu if you can convince Embarcadero to allow dbGO
components in Starter version. That would be perfect !
Thank you.
Comment by Bernard Bjelobrk
[]
on July 18, 11:31
22 Years of Delphi and it Still Rocks
amazing !
Just start to use Delphi, RAD No.1
Comment by Max
[https://rankment.com]
on October 30, 06:19
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