In exchange for a desperately needed $125 million cash infusion, Borland gave Microsoft the blueprints for much of its key technology, let Microsoft off the hook by settling long-standing patent disputes, and agreed to tie its own tools even more tightly to the Windows operating system. Inprise agreed to provide full access to more than 100 of its technology patents, including spreadsheet technologies and pending patent applications related to newer products. This transaction signified final victory for Microsoft in an epic battle to control the desktop database and development tool businesses.
The agreements surprised analysts and industry observers. "It doesn't seem like Inprise needed Microsoft technology or that Microsoft needed Inprise", "I think there's more going on under the covers than is obvious. That's a lot of money to pay for something like that.", were some opinions.
Theory: MS's .Net IS Borland's Product
So what do you say? Have you collected the pieces of the puzzle? Now, you tell me, is it possible that the whole .NET idea comes from Borland? Have you been playing with the .NET framework and Microsoft .NET languages? Have you seen Sender in each function header? Ok, Anders did develop Delphi, he was a key participant in the development of the .NET Framework, but hey VB.NET is too much like Delphi.Remember, Borland gave Microsoft the blueprints for much of its key technology. Is it possible that these new technologies from Borland included something like .NET?
Maybe the suit settlement and Microsoft injecting money to Borland are related. Is it possible that the confidential details of the settlement in the lawsuit contained a statement like: "We (Microsoft) will use your new technology to build the .NET framework, and you (Borland) are to wait 2 years before publishing a tool that supports this technology....However, you (Borland) will be allowed to use one important concept, Web Services, before we (Microsoft) let .NET go live"!
Forward to the future...
• Borland Makes News, Deals, Waves• Borland Announces Certification of its 2002 Third Quarter Financial Results
• Borland wins awards
Enough "what if's" and "let's suppose"! What happened, happened. The situation is as follows. MS has .NET (a great framework I must say). Borland seems to work very hard to support this new technology from Microsoft. Don't be afraid, Borland is again raising its profile - and is looking damn good.
I've tried Delphi for .NET compiler and have to say it IS great! The ASP.NET support is fabulous. I just hope Galileo will be published soon and Delphi developers will realize that .NET is here to stay.
Do you as a Borland developer sell VCL components? Are you interested in selling those components to more than 5 or 6 million developers? In other words, with Delphi for .Net, Delphi (Borland) developers will soon have the entire population of .NET developers to sell components to!
