SDA Asia Magazine has publsihed a very interesting interview with CodeGear's CEO Jim Douglas (and JBuilder's Ravi Kumar). Here is a summary of things I found interesting, along with my comments. The two mayor topics are worth a separate section:

  • On the sales channels: "We have worked hard for the past year to solidify and expand our indirect sales partnerships": as I was involved as a new sales partner I can testify this is true...
  • On the company separation: "The strategic end in mind is still to spin CodeGear out of Borland": with the Borland stock hitting a new low (as Steve Trefethen commented) I keep hoping this happens as soon as possible. Borland is now worth 200 millions, which is probably a few times as much as they originally asked for CodeGear (well this is my guess, of course).
  • On Asia: He talks a lot about market presence in India and China, which is not surprising given the magazine and the fact he is (was) traveling in the area.
  • On JBuilder: He talks about application factories, along with Ravi Kumar. This is the next big think CodeGear is adding to JBuilder.
  • On Blogging: "I’m new to blogging and haven’t really found my mojo (rhythm) yet. The most common feedback I get to my blog is . . . why don’t you blog more? Guilty as charged." Well, Jim, there is a rhythm in your posts, once every two months (last three are dated June, August, and October). You should post right away to keep up with that, at least <g>.

On Delphi and Its Focus

"Since the beginning of Borland, our native compiled tools (Delphi & C++ Builder) have been the foundation of the company. In the past couple of years, we have been increasingly trying to address a broader set of developer problems with these tools. By continuing to broaden the focus, we have begun to stray from their core competency."

This is something I agree with, and I guess he refers mostly to the .NET side of the products, but possibly also the Linux versions. He continues:

"Delphi and C++ Builder are the best tools on the planet for developing GUI rich desktop and client/server applications. We are very focused on ensuring that we maintain their best in breed status in this fertile niche rather than trying to expand beyond their sweet spot."

As much as l like this focus, I really think Delphi [and compiled code] could provide a great value for web development as well, but Jim states:

"We have other tools in our portfolio to address challenges outside of the desktop and client/server domain."

On Conferences

"CodeRage isn’t a replacement for live events... You will see us conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis. With that said, the days of huge technical conferences and tradeshows are dwindling...  Therefore, we are conducting much more focused live events and complimenting them with virtual developer conferences such that a broader audience has a chance to interact (directly) with CodeGear developers as well as key luminaries from our ecosystem."

Well, I hope the live events won't have only "local" scope, but will from time to time be open to anyone in the world willing to take part in them.

PS. As an aside, you might have notices on Delphi Feeds that CodeGear slipped on dn.codegear.com an article titled "Release Notes for RAD Studio November Update", that was immediately removed (I could not find it in Google's cache!). Seems a new update is coming along... good news!