For all those against my posts criticizing CodeGear, I have good news: I'll cut CodeGear some slack as I do need to move on and get back to work. However, I'll just make these final notes regarding some comments I received and also to try and further explain why I have been so critic regarding CodeGear. My following posts will be of a more technical nature.
Maybe some people are right and maybe I'm being too harsh on CodeGear, but that's what one gets when a company "where developers matter" turns out to be a company "where management issues matter more than developers".
It's a bit like going to the movies: if everybody tells you that movie X is the best movie ever, what is your reaction when you go and see it and it turns out to be just a good movie? Since we, humans, function in relative terms, the immediate perception you get from that movie is not that it's a just a good movie, but rather that it's a bad movie, because you've set your expectations too high!
I do know that any company needs to make money to keep in business, but would they go out of business if they did not make those first quarter sales? If so, then we're in more trouble than I thought... If they wouldn't go bankrupt by not rushing those sales, why do they do it then? Only CodeGear will be able to tell, but I don't think it was with the developer community in their minds... Also, it's unfortunate that they have to abide by those SOX rules, otherwise they could have just made an aggressive pre-order campaign and still get their 1st Q money without releasing products that were not quite ready...
Sure, the help bug is not that critical: all I have to do is restart the IDE to "fix" it and remember not to press it again, but, when one is being told about an improved help system, how improved does an AV sound when you press F1? That "improved" help is one of the reasons behind many people making the switch to Delphi 2007! And that particular issue was known quite some time before releasing. Sure, in some ways, it's better than BDS 2006, but it still has a lot to go to be nearly as efficient as Delphi 7's help... It's good, but not that much good as many other blogs make you believe it is...
As for the persons behind CodeGear, I've never said anything but that they do go to all the lengths to help you sort your issues. Even though others have had less luck than me, in my contacts with CodeGear staff nearly all were very helpful and helped me sort the problems. It was also my point that they would have less issues if they didn't rush those products out on financial decisions alone.
Final notes:
I've said good things when I feel there are good things to be said, and I do believe that, in time, Delphi 2007 will be much better. It's just sad to see CogeGear turning out to be some "regular" company where numbers matter more than developers.
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3 comments:
Never believe marketing speak, it is all a lie. Only actions matter.
I take a more pragmatic view of CodeGear's products and conduct. Just because Codegear has a renewed focus on developers (and I really think they do), does that mean they can skip the 'money and marketing' part of running a business? No, otherwise they won't be in business long. However, as opposed to Borland, they really do seem to listen to their customers, have quality in mind and within fiscal and resource constraints, want to 'get it right' each time. Perfect, NO. Better than Borland did since the last decade or so, YES. Overall HUGE improvement, YES. Still a ways to go to convince customers burned multiple times, YES. By buying D2007 and SA I have given them my personal fiscal vote of confidence on their recent actions and hope for even better things to come.
Back in 1999, a 'new to our company' manager approached me (software engineer) and asked how much of our product was written in Delphi because he wanted to switch to another language because of the fiscal instability of Borland. I was shocked because this was at a time when 'the better' versions of Delphi were available (2007 restored that quality). A business will not base it's flagship products on a language that is from an unstable source. Legacy code has carried Borland and Code Gear up to this point. Since Code Gear has a fresh breeze flowing through it, it is alive again with renewed passion for 'gear for coders'. Hopefully, a fiscally stable company will eye CodeGear as a great acquisition and give it the fiscal base that it needs and earns.
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