You keep mentioning Delphi 2 so much, that you've got me intrigued on why do you need to keep compatibility with such an old version?
Because my 32bit Pascal compiler of choice is Delphi 2. The great majority of my programs compile with both, Delphi 2 and FPC (
without {$MODE DELPHI}) My 64bit compiler of choice is FPC. I would be extremely surprised if I ever wanted to use the 64bit version of Delphi. Additionally, I can debug Delphi 2 programs at the source level using SoftICE, not something I will give up anytime soon.
I would understand Delphi 7, since, at least to my knowledge, that's when FPC and Delphi kinda parted ways, in a sense, but I'm very intrigued by the specificity of Delphi 2 and not Delphi 1 for that matter.
Delphi 1 is a 16bit compiler. That's in the binary museum where it belongs. I don't use later versions of Delphi because they are
bloated and, strictly from a compiler's viewpoint, their additional features aren't worth the bloat. I have a copy of Delphi 5, which I purchased only because of its support of 64bit integers, I used it for about 3 months before I decided it was more headaches than it was worth. After Delphi 2, IMO, Delphi went severely and rapidly downhill.
I guess it's fair to say that I am not the typical user. My ideal compiler is a "lean, mean, code generating machine" that doesn't offer anything but a good debugger along with tight, fast code. I dislike run time libraries and, the bigger they are, the more I dislike them. If I want a button, a listbox or whathaveyou, I can code it myself without bloat.