Embarcadero has announced the availability of Delphi XE3, including trial versions. The first message came (on Sunday) from Tim Del Chiaro, but yesterday the product page at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi had all the new information about Delphi XE3. The key messages from the (marketing) page are:
- "Fastest path to Windows 8", which refers to the support for the new metro look-alike VCL and FireMonkey styles, plus some additional components as detailed at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/develop-windows-8-applications-with-delphi-xe3
- "Create Windows 8 and Mac OS X Mountain Lion applications from a single codebase", which refers to FireMonkey and Delphi compiler cross platform support, updated from Delphi XE2. Mac support in XE3 is detailed at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/mac-osx-development.
- Connect your applications to any data, anywhere. Beside features already in XE3 (DB connectivity, Cloud Support, DataSnap...), the new and very interesting feature here is Visual LiveBindings, described at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/livebindings.
As you probably already know, there is no "mobile development" support in Delphi XE3, as this is expected to be made available later (apparently as an addition to the product) including a new Delphi ARM compiler and updated FireMonkey framework. Of course, there is little information about this... as the company wants to sell XE3 now.
Along with Delphi XE3, Embarcadero released:
- C++Builder XE3, which still lacks a 64-bit compiler (but still has the offer on the product with maintanance, so you can get it that way), but includes most of the new features in Delphi XE3
- HTML5 Builder (a re-invention of RadPHP, as you can read on Jose Leon blog at http://joseleon.es/?p=44)
- Interbase XE3, a new edition of the popular database (freely included in Delphi in the developer edition)
There is also a new RAD Studio XE3 pack, including Delphi, C++Builder, HTML5 Builder, and Prism... but the deal between Embarcadero and RemObjects for Prism is changing: an announcement is expected today.
I'll blog about technical features later on. For now let me add a few final "action" links:
- Get the Delphi XE3 30-days trial version (or the RAD Studio one) at https://downloads.embarcadero.com/free/delphi
- If you are in Italy, buy Delphi XE3 from my online shop
- If you are anywhere else and want to buy directly from Embarcadero, you can use the link below (which is a referral link I might earn some money from, just that you know):
PS: What is clearly missing from this blog post is a reference to the EULA change "flames" of the past week (while I was on vacation) and some technical information about XE3. Both will come ASAP...



Delphi XE3 Released
Comment by Marco Cantu [http://www.marcocantu.com] on September 4, 13:48