大家看看这个，BCB in DiamondBack!
VCL版本的BCB将集成在将来的Delphi版本中，重点在于
支持.net和win32，RAD开发。
而非VCL的版本，也就是现在的BCBX,将会继续发展，
Borland官方会先发布一个补丁，让BCBX支持Code Completion。
接下来BCBX会有进一步的发展，重点在于跨平台，而非RAD开发。
http://www.simventions.com/gustavson/2004/09/borcon-c-meet-team.html
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
BorCon - C++ Meet The Team!
Maybe I should have called this C++ Beat the Team... Actually, it turned out sli
ghtly better than anticipated.. but of course not as good as the Delphi event 24
hours prior (where we all walked away with a interim build copy of Diamondback)
.
John Ray Thomas (JT) was the host of the meet the team. It's always great to see
and hear from JT, as he's got a pretty good read of what we want and need. The
problem, he's not one of the decision makers on what Borland does. More on that
later. JT came prepared for the arrows as reflected in his opening remarks... "I
t was funny as we were preparing for this session at Johnny Rockets someone ment
ioned that the last public hanging was right across the street." He added, "but
we've come prepared to provide some honest upfront answers regarding...
The Open Letter
The future of C++Builder
CBX
C++ support for .NET
I should mention JT also had George Paulini, his boss, by his side, with a few o
f the C++ team members in the audience, as well as DavidI, Michael Swindell, All
en Bauer, Danny Thorpe, and others.
JT shared that since last year they have gone through a re-org. With George as h
ead of all the developer tools (Java, Delphi, C++). Boz Elloy is his boss at the
executive level. Scott Arnold, incidentally, also weighs in as he "is responsib
le for shaping the company’s business strategy [Borland web site]" - thus holds
the purse strings. Incidentally, JP LeBlanc, the former C++ exec product manage
r and principle decision maker in the team going from BCB6(VCL) to CBX, took a j
ob in France, for those that didn't know.
On the topic of the Open Letter. JT shared that it was ready to go several times
, but held back by the executive team (legal) at the last minute for further del
iberation. DavidI piped in, jokingly of course, that it was "still being spell c
hecked."
You could tell from JT's physical demeanor that he was a bit disappointed that t
he Open Letters didn't go out because of the change in direction from the top. H
owever, in the midst of uncertain "product planning" decisions being made by the
Management Team, George didn't want to send mix signals (flip flopping); which
he states would have occurred if they had released the open letters. In fact, th
at "product planning", which is influenced by the Sales Force field, is still be
ing deliberated by Management (more on that in a moment). The biggest gripe from
the audience on this is that they could have done a much better job of communic
ating --- at least showing some heartbeat C++ was still alive. Certainly, the la
ck of acknowledgment that something / anything was being worked on, was poor exe
cution on their part. It was made quiete clear that this silence has come across
as abandonment of their C++ product line and it's users.
The good news is that we learned tonite that Borland, at least their development
team, has no intention to abandon C++, and, at least for the development team,
they have had game plan! It's just that that game plan must be finalized by the
Management team. (Thus it's still Jello)...
JT shared that between last year and this year they (the development team) recog
nized that a new version of BCB was needed!" However, after months of developmen
t, the field (sales force) came back and told them that they needed CBX first. S
o at this point (today), they are still investigating how to deliver BCB!
As proof of the ongoing effort, JT switched out of PowerPoint and loaded Borland
Developer Studio (Diamondback) with C++Builder integrated into the IDE. That's
right. BCB inside Diamondback. He then proceeded to build a simple One Button Ap
With that, JT mentioned that their intention is to integrate C++Builder (VCL) in
to Borland Developer Studio. However, they need to finish detailed planning. Wit
h that, he mentioned that we will know a final answer by no later than December
15, 2004! I later asked JT if he could create a TurboDemo of his demo and stick
it out on the web. He liked the idea. We'll see if it happens though!!! (transla
te: if the powers that be let him)
At this point there were a whole lot of discussion / comments /arrows being flow
n etc... from a very well attended Meet the Team (better than expected). It woul
d take too much time to rehash all the comments. But I'll boil it down. The majo
rity of people in the room want Borland to communicate better and want Borland t
o update C++Builder (VCL). Only two people in the room indicated strong interest
in C++BuilderX. Essentially many folks have apps built and maintained using C++
Builder, it's their lifeblood and they don't want to not have support from Borla
nd nor do they want to resort to Microsoft Visual C++.
They key, in all of this, is persuading the Management Team, which the Developme
nt team needs help at doing. So I suggested perhaps the Management Team needs an
Open Letter from us - the community (of evangelists) who uses and needs C++Buil
der (VCL). That seemed to strike a chord. So, over the next few weeks check back
here and, certainly, use the news groups to help fashion the key elements that
will go into this Open Letter from the Community.
Okay, back to JT's presentation. Currently, Borland is preparing to ship a free
update to CBX users -- the first one code named Boomerang. It will be more stabl
e and include Code Complete. Then there's another build coming, called Didgerido
o (sp?), which will have more features. Again, this product is intended to suppo
rt multiplatform deployment. One thing worth noting is that they are putting wxW
idgets designer on hold. It will not be the RAD tool Windows developers are used
to, but it will be a significant tool of worthy consideration for those creatin
g console and mobile applications to different platforms.
After hearing this, I commented to JT that they should probably call this someth
ing other than C++BuilderX - and suggested the name TurboC++X
s] He agreed the name should change.
Finally, there is good news from the world of Microsoft regarding C++ support fo
r .Net. This actually creates a bigger window of opportunity for Borland in putt
ing out a C++Builder version that not only supports Win32 but all .NET (especial
ly since Borland already has Delphi.NET components!!!) So, June 2005, Microsoft
will have compiler, which one would hope Borland would be able to use, that prov
ides the C++ managed support for .Net. Borland is participating in the standardi
zation of this and JT mentioned that Borland’s extension could map nicely.
That's the meat of the content. What you’re not getting in this report is the e
ntire dialog that occurred between all of us, JT, George and the Borland crew. T
his went on not only during the session, but well after the session (for quite s
ometime). Unfortunately, Dale Fuller was not there. He was with some power Wall
Streeters -- likely trying to keep them away from the C++Builder meet the team s
ession. However, Boz Elloy and Scott Arnold did arrive afterwards and a mess of
us cornered them to share our frustrations, requirements and needs.
Incidentally, this open letter I mentioned from Us to Management is seen by the
Developer team (including George) as a viable approach and is highly encouraged.
There's some hope!!! So, we should definitely put something together in regard
to that. Stay tuned for more (and certainly use the newsgroups). But there's no
doubt in my mind that the C++ develpoment team (and their Delphi counterparts) w
ould love to deliver BCB and and also include it in a future build of Diamond ba
ck (aka Borland Developer Studio).
posted by Paul Gustavson at 7:19 AM
