To compete head-to-head against the Microsoft Evil Empire?
Borland has done an excellent job of taking itself out of competition with Microsoft. Of course, they must compete on some level, but Borland seems to have been quite successful at the difficult task of transitioning toward the enterprise. There is a long way to go yet, but they've done well at it so far, in a very short time.
In addition, there may be something on the horizon, but I really haven't seen any indication there is going to be a "Borland Tool Killer" from Microsoft. While MSFT is trying to figure out what its game plan to steal Java will be, Borland is quietly grabbing all the language market it can get. One would have thought, with all the talent taken from Borland, MSFT would be bringing forth some competing products. Even the people using MSFT tools hate them, as far as I can tell. The only people I hear proclaiming MSFT products to be good are those that haven't used Borland. Users of MSFT tools are effectively "locked in" to an inferior development platform, and it is tough for Borland or anyone else to get past that; the move toward the enterprise is the absolute best thing Borland could have done.
Use of Borland's tools needs to reach a "critical mass" -- meaning creating enough popularity that there is a thriving job market. Idiot personnel managers have come to think that BORL c++ programmers can't write MSFT c++ code (I won't get started on this one), so the job markets are somewhat independent. But if this critical mass were to be reached, the use of Borland tools could soar quickly, and THEN spread BACK TO the desktop.
The point of all this is that Borland becoming less reliant upon its ability to compete against MSFT. The only way MSFT could be brought down was for all the other players in the software business to team up against them. With Sun as the [heretofore unlikely] leader, this is what has happened; while Borland is a player on the team, they are smartly diversifying away from the desktop and rising above this battle to be fought amongst the big players.
If I sound like a Microsoft hater, it is because I am.
David |
