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Technology Stocks : INPR - Inprise to Borland (BORL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cube who wrote (2105)	1/31/1999 12:09:00 PM
From: Mark Bracey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5102

But what about all the times I've started a compile using VC++ only to come back to the machine (it compiles much slower than BCB) to have it either locked up or rebooted. Or all the fatal exceptions VB has. (VB6 in initial release was crap, and like INPR, they had to put out a patch quickly.) And when I've called MSFT describing the problems you get the same run around... fully document it and send it in and the attitude 'Nothing we can do about it'. Which is hard to do when the machine dies. I've been using Delphi since V1 and have never had to call support. I've found a few compiler bugs, but that happens. And I'm not a screen scraper, I only write components and spend a lot of time using the WINAPI and/or writing new or inheriting from existing classes. Since the D4 patch it has been nothing but awesome. BCB4 will be the same. Me thinks some people protest too much.

To: Cube who wrote (2105)	1/31/1999 2:59:00 PM
From: Shane Stump	Respond to of 5102

The support for Borland (Inprise) products is no better or worse than Microsoft's -- Programmers who are successful have learned to work around the problems and get the project done on time. My partner and I use VC 6 and CBuilder 3. Both products have their advantages and disadvantages. Any how, the best tool for the job is the one that makes an individual the most productive (or the one which the customer is willing to pay for). Shane

To: Cube who wrote (2105)	1/31/1999 10:23:00 PM
From: i-node	Respond to of 5102

I do see a problem for attracting new customers if their support is as bad as Rod says. You should keep in mind Rod says lots of stuff. Frankly, I can't comment on Borland's support much, because I've almost never needed it. I've seen a few problems, but none that I couldn't work around with ease. Most of the problems that have delayed my work in any way have been IDE related -- specifically the incremental linker & caching & precompiling of headers, etc. I find the borland newsgroups to be far better than any support I've received from ANY software company, period. While I don't go there much now, these were once a great resource. Bottom line is that this stuff is so damned easy to use you really don't need much outside help. While there have been many complaints about the docs, the reality is that you just don't need the reams of docs that you do with, for example, a Micrsoft product, because this stuff is simple. I guess some others have some support complaints, but not me. My main concern is the long-term viability of the company. It is a fact that I don't want to make a substantial investment in BCB code only to have it sold off to Corel or someone. You mention superior functionality, but a key element of using Borland products is development time. As a small software developer I can't afford the massive investment in a particular product that a larger developer can. BCB allows me to compete on pretty solid footing with some much larger developers. To me, its kind of the most important "feature". While lots of people, perhaps Rod included, have the time to tinker with the bloated languages from other companies. But for me, its the difference between making money and losing money on a project. I just can't screw around.