While I was still in vacation (in Denmark), Delphi XE has been released. So this is now old news, but still deserves being blogged about. Given the detailed previews of the past few weeks (with the videos still available on http://www.embarcadero.com/rad-studio-xe-preview), there haven't been many surprises in terms of product features, but I'm sure we'll see more and more blog posts in the coming weeks offering more details and nice hidden features of the product. It is very good that besides new features there has been a large effort to address existing issues, like those related with the generics support of the compiler.

The official press release is here. The product page is at the usual location at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio. (If you live in Italy, you can buy Delphi XE on my online shop).

Comments and Comments

OK, what about adding a few comments? First, there are still several features I'm investigating, so this is only a limited point-of-view for now. Certainly, the product delivers less than many developers were hoping or anticipating (64 bit or Mac support). But on the other hand it is a very strong Win32 release, with many bugs fixed, lots of small but relevant features added, some great third-party tools embedded and available for free, significant improvements to the DataSnap and REST support, and the start of "cloud support". So I stand with my previous comments, a new Delphi 7 . In a couple of weeks, I'll probably be able to update my position, having delved more into some of the features.

Beside my personal comments, which are the public ones? Certainly the blog sphere has been very quite, lacking a "grand announcement". The exception is this nice blog post: http://tech.turbu-rpg.com/181/first-look-at-delphi-xe. There are, of course, several other blog posts at http://blogs.embarcadero.com/. Newsgroups reactions? Some are here.

Little Tidbits

Don't want to provide a list of features as I already blogged about some and the official sites have the complete list. Just wanted to point out to a few tidbits:

• Examples are on SourceForge under version control. Nice idea, given the subversion integration. Guess you still get a standard local copy, though.
• There is a demo DataSnap server in the cloud you can try connecting to.
• If you buy Delphi XE, you can also previous versions (from Delphi 7) for free.
• There is a discounted Professional Upgrade price until the end of September.

Events I'll Attend: Paris, Rome, Milan

A world tour of launch events by many speakers is ongoing. I'll be at the event in Paris on September 9th (with David I, who's touring Europe on an impossible schedule), and the two Italian events in Rome and Milan on the 21st and 22nd of September (in Rome there should be also David I, at both events myself, Daniele Teti, and other Bitime speakers). Later on I might also run a class in Piacenza, to offer a more in-depth view of the product.

More to Come, Book Included

That's all for now. As mentioned, I'll delve into it, also because there is a book on Delphi XE new features coming from your truly. In the meanwhile I plan covering a few features on the blog and record some demonstration videos.