But hey, there is a solution -- a non-Microsoft one -- to this problem: Delphi. Delphi provides a powerful, fully-capable Win32 development platform, and with the VCL for .Net, a much, much smoother migration path for Win32 to .Net. And when you do move to .Net, Delphi 8 for the .Net Framework provides powerful tool that is a first class citizen in the .Net development world. If you are starting a new development project in Win32, and need to be able to move that project to the .Net framework some time in the future, then Delphi is your only real choice. Microsoft-only development organizations quite conspicuously have no similar choice. The VCL is cross-platform -- at least between Win32 and .Net. Applications build in Win32 using Delphi and the VCL should migrate relatively smoothly to the .Net platform today . VCL for .Net exists, and has been available to Delphi 7 owners via the Delphi for .Net Preview since last summer.
Now I am not at all claiming that the migration will be totally seamless -- you may need .Net version of third-party components, and if any of your code calls into the Win32 API directly, you'll need to update that. In addition, not all of the technologies that were in Delphi 7 will make it into Delphi 8, and certainly the presence of garbage collection in the .Net framework may affect the way your code works, but the migration is clearly not a complete rewrite as discussed above. Heck, at this year's Borland Conference, they compiled and ran in Delphi for .Net an application that was originally a demonstration application for Delphi 1 -- a 16-bit development tool! Can't get much more compatible than that.
This fact alone ought to be changing the way that developers and companies view Delphi. Delphi will drastically lower the overall total cost of a project by drastically reducing the time and effort needed to migrate a Win32 application that needs to be built today to the .Net framework tomorrow. Delphi doesn't lock you in to either Win32 or .Net and doesn't force you to move to .Net faster than you or your budget might want you to. Delaying the transition to .Net can also save money, as building applications in Win32 now for existing hardware can extend the life of that hardware rather than accelerating the hardware upgrades to run the .Net Framework.
Smart managers already know that they are stuck in a tough spot and smart Delphi developers will be quick to point out the advantages of using Delphi for new development. So if you have been looking for that silver bullet to convince your managers or your customers to use Delphi as the development tool for that upcoming project, you now have it.
