Delphi Starter Edition

[motaz]

it increases the general Pascal market and the amount of people using Pascal.

for that reason we need Lazarus to be ready for Delphi users, when embarcadero come with any shocking license in the future.

[marcov]

I see this as bad news for FreePascal and Lazarus

I think exactly the opposite. A stronger Delphi can only be good for Lazarus / Free Pascal, because it increases the general Pascal market and the amount of people using Pascal.

I think so too, and it is also good for the component builders if some people with old Delphi versions upgrade. And more and more  component builders also support Lazarus.

[Timewarp]

Only thing prevents from using Lazarus is Twebbrowser. Component is very important and cannot be replaced.

I develop Windows applications, but they work in Linux using Wine, so there is no problem really.

Please enable Twebbrowser for Windows

[Leledumbo]

Only thing prevents from using Lazarus is Twebbrowser. Component is very important and cannot be replaced.

IMHO, it's not *that* important. Only certain apps need it. Anyway, we already have GeckoPort that works really great. It's a replacement AND it works cross platform. Actually, it should be possible to make a TWebBrowser compatible component from Gecko browser (a wrapper), but somebody's got to do it...

[Timewarp]

Delphi Twebbrowser (or Tembeddedwb bsalsa.com) is really PERFECT web component, because it works on any Windows and doesn't require any other files. Thanks for MS!

I really need WYSIWYG editor (ckeditor or tinymce). It's javascript editor and works perfectly together with Twebbrowser.

Geckoport.. Does it need other files to be installed? Reliable? Any Windows?

Reliability is very important, application must work, any case. Otherwise I can't destripute it. Delphi & TWB gives me everything..

And, yes, I don't see any problem Lazarus Twebbrowser (For Windows)

[Leledumbo]

Delphi Twebbrowser (or Tembeddedwb bsalsa.com) is really PERFECT web component, because it works on any Windows and doesn't require any other files.

But it uses IE's browser engine, which is not w3c standard at MANY points (except if installed IE is of version 9 and up, 8 is a little better than previous versions, but still quite far from full compliance)

Geckoport.. Does it need other files to be installed? Reliable? Any Windows?

Well, it does need xulrunner, but it's reliable (it's mozilla's browser engine) and it works for many platforms including windows.

Sorry to disappoint you, but a platform specific component is unlikely to be included in Lazarus distribution, that would violate Lazarus' own principle. Some people provides platform specific components (like KOL-CE), but it's 3rd party and thus not a subject for Lazarus when something goes wrong. I know you're a Windows guy, but Lazarus is a cross platform solution, not Windows specific.

[marcov]

The first news bits about starter are arriving.

One of the problems seems to be a defunct commandcompiler, not allowing install of components that compile the .dcu's while being installed:


http://community.devexpress.com/blogs/ctodx/archive/2011/02/02/got-delphi-xe-starter-want-to-install-our-controls-tough.aspx

The Jedi installer also uses this technique.

[thierrybo]

Aha,

just read what Embaracadero think a valid prerequisite to buy the "upgrade price" instead of the full price :

Delphi XE Starter and C++Builder XE Starter

Delphi XE and C++Builder XE Starter upgrade/competitive upgrade pricing is available to owners of any other IDE or software development tool including earlier versions of Delphi, C++Builder, Turbo Delphi, Turbo C++, Turbo Pascal or any other paid or free IDE from any other vendor (such as Visual Studio Express Editions, Lazarus, Eclipse, and others).

How will they verify that I have a valid Lazarus licence 

[DirkS]

How will they verify that I have a valid Lazarus licence  

It's pretty much the same for the other free IDEs mentioned...

What they're basically doing is lowering the price for XE Starter, full stop.

Gr
Dirk.

[marcov]

Thierry do you have an url for that? Thanks in advance.

[fabienwang]

Thierry do you have an url for that? Thanks in advance.

I just googled it:

http://www.embarcadero.com/upgrade-requirements-and-return-policy

[JD]

There is feature matrix where you can see what is included in Starter Edition: http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/Delphi-Feature-Matrix.pdf

There are:
- no dbExpress and doGO (there is only Interbase Express components) and BDE for dBase and Paradox),
- no DataSnap,
- Database Tools
- no TeeChart,
- no Rave Reports,
- no UML,
- no Code Completion for Delphi, HTML, XHTML, XSL, and CSS,
- debugger limited in functionality (see feature matrix)

You can install own components, not like in Turbo Delphi Explorer

Starter edition can be used to develop and distribute software up to $1,000 US in total revenue. If your total revenue related to apps built with Delphi or C++Builder is greater than $1,000 US, you must purchase a Pro, Ent, or Arch edition License.
Starter edition limited to 5 simultaneous users within a network.

Looks even more limited than the old Turbo Delphi Explorer. It looks even less powerful than Delphi 7.

[Leledumbo]

It's more like a downgrade than an upgrade for me (from Lazarus)

[marcov]

It's more like a downgrade than an upgrade for me (from Lazarus)

The problem is that no matter however you spin it, the competitors of Delphi Starter (be it Open source like Lazarus or Eclipse) or commercial (like VS Studio, XCode) are free. (*)


(*) well XCode seems to cost Eur 5 since last week.

[anderson5420]

I am a hobby programmer, and have had all the Turbo Pascal versions from 4 to 7, and Delphi from 1 to 4.  I got off the merry-go-round when Delphi started getting expensive and basically just stopped programming. So I was delighted to discover Lazarus / Free Pascal and am having a ball. But if there was a reasonably priced Delphi that offered something Lazarus didn't, I would probably buy it.

So this morning I downloaded and installed the 30 day free trial version.  This does not look much like Delphi 4 any more. There is so much stuff there.  But the one thing I was looking for did not seem to be there, unless I just missed it - the SQLdb tab.  This is the BEST part of Lazarus, the easy connections to the free database engines.  Especially with Luis Americo's SQLite3Dataset component, simple (and maybe complex) database programs are so easy now.  Here is my first application, which as Q&D as it is, is actually a useful program.

And the Embarcadero license - what the heck are they smoking down there?  Restrictions on what you can do with the programs you produce?  A limit on what you can make selling programs?  Really?

So even though the $149 price is once again an attractive price, I don't see any reason for me to share my hard earned dollars with a company that does not seem to really want my business...