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Title:	Nick Hodges at SDE: Roapmap update
Author:	Bob Swart
Posted:	12/12/2006 8:44:41 AM (GMT+1)
Content:	Yesterday, Nick Hodges was our guest at the SDN Software Developer Event in The Netherlands. In his first session, he presented the news around CodeGear ("Where Developers Matter"), and the Delphi Roadmap - showing some things that may not have been public knowledge. According to the Delphi Roadmap that Nick showed, Delphi Highlander is scheduled for release in the first half of 2007 (around the half of the first half of 2007). Delphi Highlander will support Win32 as well as .NET 2.0 (and will be able to use .NET 3.0 assemblies as well, but not the design-time stuff). Around the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, the Delphi release after Delphi Highlander can be expected. This version used to have the "Delphi Vista" name associated with it, but in the Delphi Roadmap I saw yesterday, there was also the word "Unicode" written next to it in big letters. So a Delphi Vista/Unicode for the end of 2007/beginning of 2008. According to Nick, Unicode support was received to be more important than Compact Framework support (the recent Delphi Survey also helped in confirming this), so Compact Framework support will be delayed (again). Finally, a native Win64 version of Delphi was put somewhere in the 2008 timeframe. Personally, I'm happy about the prospect of having a Unicode version of Delphi around this time next year. Of course, Unicode means that applications will no longer run on Windows 95 or 98, but I hope that by the end of next year that won't be a real problem. If you have your own wishes, and want to make sure your voice is heard, then make sure to enter the Delphi Survey. The feedback is put to good use, so don't waste the opportunity!
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19 Comments

Author Posted Comments
Bob Swart 06/12/12 08:58:55 Later that day, there was also a special Highlander NDA session, where Nick talked about DBX4 and NDataStore, and I showed ASP.NET 2.0 support as well as parameterised types, but unfortunately I cannot tell you anything more about that (or we would have to kill you) - you just had to be there... ;-)
Malisa Ncube 06/12/12 09:32:53 I should say i like the code name "Highlander", similar to may favorite soccer team and have been a loyal Borlander for many years. I frankly think that by the scheduled release next year may be too late for many programmers to still wait for unicode, CF, 64bit, Memory Managamenent, and full .NET30 support. Something needs to be done to expedite the release of delphi with the expected features. I know many programmers that have already started devoting time to learn C# and will certainly move to VS2005. I'm wish that in the next delphi the component development be made easier as in VS2005, registering and unregistering components is really not fun. I also suggest a feature to import VS2005 solutions. I also think there is more to be done about datasnap and websnap, those are really nice innovations. Many other improvements need to be done to the memory management, Delphi is far slower than VS2005 and the graphics not as smooth. i hope my pricture presents the majority of Borlanders. malisa.ncube@gmail.com
Rick Beerendonk 06/12/12 09:49:38 "Of course, Unicode means that applications will no longer run on Windows 95 or 98, but I hope that by the end of next year that won't be a real problem." Is this you addition, or is this what Nick said? It is important, because if it is true, then "Delphi Vista/Unicode" will be the only one with real Vista support but without Win95/98 support. That is really important for our company.
Arthur Hoornweg 06/12/12 10:39:30 Unicode and Windows 9x are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There are third-party libraries around (LMD Elpack being the most notable) that do the trick nicely. If Codegear is willing, it's entirely possible to modify the windows.pas unit in such a way that the "widestring" calls get re-routed into "ansistring" calls when the underlying OS is Windows 9x. For C++, there's a Microsoft library around ("MSLU") that does just this. Of course this doesn't give you unicode on Windows 9x, but it does give you compatibility.
Irakli 06/12/12 11:45:37 I think unicode support is too late for the end of 2007, it is extremity important for CodeGear to concentrate on VCL, IDE, Language development/improvement rather than on .net!
Bob Swart 06/12/12 12:20:32 Nick was the one who said that Unicode applications won't run on Windows 98. But he didn't say that all applications generated by that Vista/Unicode edition of Delphi wouldn't run on Windows 98. And of course all disclaimers were given, so anything is likely to change anyway. But Unicode is considered to be important, that's for sure.
tdaniel 06/12/12 14:16:52 I hope you mean that cf.net-vcl support will be delayed...
Rick Beerendonk 06/12/12 16:35:23 Bob, Thank you. It is more like or unicode or win9x and that is fine with me.
Bernhard Geyer 06/12/12 22:51:14 If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. I think providing a Unicode-Solution in 2008 means that Unicode wasn't very high-prio to you. If they only support Unicode because they support Win64 would be a better way in my opinion. I think starting with Vista more an more people will move to 64-Bit.
Dejan 06/12/13 00:08:31 >> If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for >> the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. Actually, we switched to C#. Really. LP, Dejan
Leon Bemmelmans 06/12/13 09:10:42 Well, what I am realy waiting for is a fast stable win32 highlander version that enables me to convert my old but core-business Delphi 5 applications to the next level
Bart 06/12/13 14:26:24 So now the question becomes, what kind of unicode strings :) utf8, utf16, ucs2, ucs4 and what kind of implicit conversions will be possible with the current string and widestring types.
Stefan van As 06/12/14 12:09:51 Personally, I believe Unicode is important, but since I'm already using some 3rd party solutions, that problem has been more or less "solved". For CF, it is a different story. More and more clients are asking for PPC applications, and the current 3rd party solutions for Delphi are respectable, but nowhere near something I can actually use. For me, this is the #1 reason for using VS.NET instead of Delphi right now.
Andy 06/12/19 01:58:53 Damn, FreePascal already has almost working Win64 native compiler. The idea to support it in Delphi in 2008 is doomed to fail.
Jos 07/01/03 15:38:44 No CF support, verdomme........
Marco Ramirez 07/01/05 00:55:59 > If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. Wrong. Many Companies/"Hairy Pointed"/Corporate Bosses don't like to buy "third party products". They see it both as an unexpected cost, and an additional problem to deal with...
Rene Lindsay 07/02/28 12:05:28 Oh well... I really liked Delphi, but this is the last straw. I cant put my Compact Framework project on hold any longer. Too many broken promises, Borland. Its time for me to switch.
Avra 07/05/21 11:33:57 Bye, bye Delphi :-( Still using D7, but VS2K5+Chrome for CF.
TalgatJ 07/11/21 08:50:50 Badly to say, I see no prospectives for Delphi in future. I've been using it since D3 till D7, then moved to J2EE. You know why? because of lack of Unicode support. In my country it is very vital question. Now if I need to do any staff for Win platform I would prefer to use MS C++. Now I see Delphi has lost its vision, mission and nowadays becames a kind of .Net mediocre copy

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Author	Posted	Comments
Bob Swart	06/12/12 08:58:55	Later that day, there was also a special Highlander NDA session, where Nick talked about DBX4 and NDataStore, and I showed ASP.NET 2.0 support as well as parameterised types, but unfortunately I cannot tell you anything more about that (or we would have to kill you) - you just had to be there... ;-)
Malisa Ncube	06/12/12 09:32:53	I should say i like the code name "Highlander", similar to may favorite soccer team and have been a loyal Borlander for many years. I frankly think that by the scheduled release next year may be too late for many programmers to still wait for unicode, CF, 64bit, Memory Managamenent, and full .NET30 support. Something needs to be done to expedite the release of delphi with the expected features. I know many programmers that have already started devoting time to learn C# and will certainly move to VS2005. I'm wish that in the next delphi the component development be made easier as in VS2005, registering and unregistering components is really not fun. I also suggest a feature to import VS2005 solutions. I also think there is more to be done about datasnap and websnap, those are really nice innovations. Many other improvements need to be done to the memory management, Delphi is far slower than VS2005 and the graphics not as smooth. i hope my pricture presents the majority of Borlanders. malisa.ncube@gmail.com
Rick Beerendonk	06/12/12 09:49:38	"Of course, Unicode means that applications will no longer run on Windows 95 or 98, but I hope that by the end of next year that won't be a real problem." Is this you addition, or is this what Nick said? It is important, because if it is true, then "Delphi Vista/Unicode" will be the only one with real Vista support but without Win95/98 support. That is really important for our company.
Arthur Hoornweg	06/12/12 10:39:30	Unicode and Windows 9x are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There are third-party libraries around (LMD Elpack being the most notable) that do the trick nicely. If Codegear is willing, it's entirely possible to modify the windows.pas unit in such a way that the "widestring" calls get re-routed into "ansistring" calls when the underlying OS is Windows 9x. For C++, there's a Microsoft library around ("MSLU") that does just this. Of course this doesn't give you unicode on Windows 9x, but it does give you compatibility.
Irakli	06/12/12 11:45:37	I think unicode support is too late for the end of 2007, it is extremity important for CodeGear to concentrate on VCL, IDE, Language development/improvement rather than on .net!
Bob Swart	06/12/12 12:20:32	Nick was the one who said that Unicode applications won't run on Windows 98. But he didn't say that all applications generated by that Vista/Unicode edition of Delphi wouldn't run on Windows 98. And of course all disclaimers were given, so anything is likely to change anyway. But Unicode is considered to be important, that's for sure.
tdaniel	06/12/12 14:16:52	I hope you mean that cf.net-vcl support will be delayed...
Rick Beerendonk	06/12/12 16:35:23	Bob, Thank you. It is more like or unicode or win9x and that is fine with me.
Bernhard Geyer	06/12/12 22:51:14	If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. I think providing a Unicode-Solution in 2008 means that Unicode wasn't very high-prio to you. If they only support Unicode because they support Win64 would be a better way in my opinion. I think starting with Vista more an more people will move to 64-Bit.
Dejan	06/12/13 00:08:31	>> If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for >> the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. Actually, we switched to C#. Really. LP, Dejan
Leon Bemmelmans	06/12/13 09:10:42	Well, what I am realy waiting for is a fast stable win32 highlander version that enables me to convert my old but core-business Delphi 5 applications to the next level
Bart	06/12/13 14:26:24	So now the question becomes, what kind of unicode strings :) utf8, utf16, ucs2, ucs4 and what kind of implicit conversions will be possible with the current string and widestring types.
Stefan van As	06/12/14 12:09:51	Personally, I believe Unicode is important, but since I'm already using some 3rd party solutions, that problem has been more or less "solved". For CF, it is a different story. More and more clients are asking for PPC applications, and the current 3rd party solutions for Delphi are respectable, but nowhere near something I can actually use. For me, this is the #1 reason for using VS.NET instead of Delphi right now.
Andy	06/12/19 01:58:53	Damn, FreePascal already has almost working Win64 native compiler. The idea to support it in Delphi in 2008 is doomed to fail.
Jos	07/01/03 15:38:44	No CF support, verdomme........
Marco Ramirez	07/01/05 00:55:59	> If Unicode-Support would be very nessesary for the developers than they have switched to Elpack or TNTWare. Wrong. Many Companies/"Hairy Pointed"/Corporate Bosses don't like to buy "third party products". They see it both as an unexpected cost, and an additional problem to deal with...
Rene Lindsay	07/02/28 12:05:28	Oh well... I really liked Delphi, but this is the last straw. I cant put my Compact Framework project on hold any longer. Too many broken promises, Borland. Its time for me to switch.
Avra	07/05/21 11:33:57	Bye, bye Delphi :-( Still using D7, but VS2K5+Chrome for CF.
TalgatJ	07/11/21 08:50:50	Badly to say, I see no prospectives for Delphi in future. I've been using it since D3 till D7, then moved to J2EE. You know why? because of lack of Unicode support. In my country it is very vital question. Now if I need to do any staff for Win platform I would prefer to use MS C++. Now I see Delphi has lost its vision, mission and nowadays becames a kind of .Net mediocre copy