Yesterday we stopped by the Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition in Tulsa. If the OVGE was about the latest video games, I wouldn’t be interested. But an exhibition where people are showing their “old computer” collections and trading rare games, hardware, and software? We’re there! Here are some photos.
I think this afternoon, the Commodore 128 is getting pulled from the closet and set up in the spare bedroom.
Paul Thurrott has some interesting comments on Apple’s preoccupation with Windows Vista:
“…But by the same token, I have to admit to being a bit shocked by how childish Apple is about Vista. Say what you will about Microsoft (heck, I do), but the company is at least deferential to its customers in public, about as far from smug as is humanly possible, and it very rarely takes pointed shots at the competition. From the opening PC guy video (“Widgets, gadgets… completely different. They are their own thing. Just like Aqua. I mean, uh, Aero.”) to the last moments of the keynote, Jobs and company unleashed a never-ending, tireless diatribe against Microsoft and its upcoming Windows Vista release.”
Steve Jobs, as Apple’s “Chief Evangelist,” is really quite the snob when it comes to Mac OS. In his view, only Apple develops innovative things, and Apple does it right. And the rest of the world simply needs to get with it. (And even when Apple gets its ideas from someone else, “Apple invented it!”)
On the other hand, my own experience is that Microsoft “Evangelists” tend to be very conciliatory with regards to Windows. They know it’s not perfect and they are more than willing to engage developers and try to be better. They’re not concerned with who came up with what first, though I guess if you have over 90% of the market, it’s a moot point.
Neither company is perfect, but it’s just interesting to me that Apple is doing exactly the opposite of what their position in the Desktop OS industry actually affords them.
And speaking of their position, Thurrott writes:
“…Apple’s explosion growth in 2005 did nothing to help the Mac’s market share, which is still mired at 2 percent worldwide. In other words, Steve’s claim is baloney: Apple hasn’t really gained any appreciable market share at all–indeed, Apple has lost market share every year since Jobs took the CEO helm…”
Here’s a little update on yesterday’s blog post: The “Turbo Tools” has a website.
Good news on the Delphi front: Borland brings back its Turbo Tools.
I’ve been a loyal Borland tools user for as long as I have been seriously programming. I cut my teeth on Turbo Pascal. I taught myself C with Borland C++ when it was still a DOS-only tool. I programmed SwordSearcher 2.0 with Borland C++ 4, SwordSearcher 3.0 with Borland C++ 5, and SwordSearcher 4 with Delphi 5, 6, 7, 2005, and 2006.
Borland’s early strength, in my view, was its affordable and powerful tools targeted at students and independent developers. They’ve been spending a lot of time, research, and money developing for the “enterprise sector,” which I know has a lot of money in it –- but they’ve lost sight the early developer who wants a platform to code for fun, or as a hobby, or as an independent software vendor. As a result of this, they’ve lost a lot of “new blood” with people going for the free (but not very good) tools, or for the inexpensive Microsoft “lite” platforms.
This is just my opinion, of course. I’ve not looked to research to back up this particular gut estimation of the current state of development tools. But it is where I bring home my bacon, so I think I have some grasp of the situation.
Finally, Borland (or, more likely, the Developer Tools guys at Borland) is doing something to make an effort to get new developers into their camp. Good! I’ve been using Delphi for years. Delphi Developer Studio 2006 is the best Win32 development platform available, period. I want Delphi to prosper so that I can continue using it!
Hopefully this will make Borland’s divestiture of the Devloper Tools group more successful. My read on the DevCo guys (as they are calling themselves) is that they can’t wait to get out from under Borland, which is more focused on management buzzword-ware “application lifecycle management” stuff –- whatever -– than it is on making good development tools. I am looking forward to an unhindered Delphi development team churning out the best IDE for Windows programmers for years to come.
Global Warming Already Happened
People sweltering from a heat wave in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. might find cold comfort in the fact that the temperatures of the past few days are not the hottest on record. That “honor” belongs to a summer 76 years ago — decades before the controversy over “man-made global warming” began.
I simply find it amazing that with something as unpredictable as the weather (we can hardly get an accurate five-day forecast!), people are convinced that human beings are having a measurable impact on it. If you can’t tell me how hot it’s going to be next week, how serious am I supposed to take you when you tell me that “it’ll be hot and it’s your fault!”