Tag: delphi

This is Episode 17 for Monday, December 01, 2008. I just returned from a vacation over the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. If you didn’t get any Turkey last week, then just send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will mail you some leftovers.

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Today is day 1 of CodeRage, which is going on all day today, so I will keep this really short.R egister for sessions and schedule time this week to attend a few sessions.

First of all, if you missed have missed the fun so far, here are a few notes and impressions. It was really early for me, but I was able to attend in my pajamas, so it worked for me. I counted about 216 people in attendance. They are using Microsoft LiveMeeting this year, which seems to have some occasional compatibility issues with Vista and XP, and doesn’t support any other operating systems. If you connect and don’t hear any audio, then click Voice and Video and you will most likely see an error with a big X. Click the “X” and then click “Join Audio.” You may have to do that a few times, but after that it seems to work well.

I must say I am looking forward to the nice mix of Database and Development sessions I see on the agenda. In the opening keynote Michael Swindell mentioned that there are 2 million Delphi Developers, 1.2 million C++ developers and then I thought he said Embarcadero has a total of 3.2 million customers. Now I realize there is some overlap between users of each product, but it sounds like most of their customers are Delphi or C++ Builder users.

Another interesting comment he made was about the importance of globalization to avoid localize market instability and downturns. Now I am sure this comment was motivated by the fact that Delphi 2009 now has full Unicode support and some new globalization features, but I think it is a good comment none the less.

Finally there were the token Interbase and Firebird SQL questions. DatabaseGear is going to add Interbase support to their product roadmaps, so we can look forward to that. As a nice change of pace Michael spoke positively about Firebird SQL and indicated there would be some good news about Firebird SQL support after CodeRage. A nice change of pace to be sure.

David I and Greg Keller had some demos of their products too. Nick followed that with the RAD Studio Product Address: This includes Delphi 2009 for Win32, C++ Builder and Delphi Prism (with the Visual Studio Shell). Nick has a good blog about Delphi Prism and additionally the Software Assurance emails went out about a day after the product announcement, which is a great improvement.

I am always surprised how many people don’t know what Software Assurance is. Think of buying Delphi like buying a magazine. A new version comes out about once a year, although lately they have been staggering the Delphi and RAD Studio releases. So you can keep buying the individual editions, or if you know you want to get the next version, then you can save money and buy software assurance, which is a one year subscription to all the upgrades at your product level (i.e. Delphi Professional or RAD Studio Architect being different levels.) So you pay a little more for the first purchase, and then you can keep renewing Software Assurance, which continues to give you the new versions for a better price then buying each version individually. I am sure if you talk to a sales rep they can explain it much better than I did, but you get the general idea.

Two things before I let you go: First be sure to check out the Revenge of Delphi Robot Rage. Delphi Prism is now released and you have until Midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday the 3rd to submit your bot.

And lastly, I know a lot of people are looking for work right now, so I wanted to let you know WideOrbit, the company I work for, is now actively hiring Delphi super stars for their Seattle and San Francisco offices. Real quick about WideOrbit:

• WideOrbit is one of the fastest growing technology companies in Silicon Valley and North America.
• Our software helps Media companies manage their advertising business
• Our customers include more than 1200 TV stations, radio stations and cable networks around the globe
• Our product is the #1 recommended sales, traffic and billing software 7 times running and over 92% customer satisfaction
• In October 2008 we closed $10m in growth funding
• We ranked on the Deloitte 2008 Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 and 2008 Technology Fast 500 Lists
• Currently there are over 150 employees… and we’re looking for great Delphi developers in San Francisco and Seattle!

You can learn more about WideOrbit on our website, but if you are interested then please email me, or let whomever you contact know that you heard about WideOrbit from Jim McKeeth on the Podcast at Delphi.org. I look forward to working with you.

I hope you enjoy CodeRage III and I will have a wrap up session from my impression of CodeRage next Monday. After that we will be back to our usual interview format, although I will be refocused on shorter podcasts.