The symptoms: I had Firebird (installed with Morfik) working perfectly, then installed a Borland/CodeGear app that set up Interbase (client), and after that Firebird stopped working (“XNET error (xnet:2323) XNET server initialization failed”). Any amount of un-installations and re-installations did not help. Googling around did not reveal any pointers either.

The resolution: I had to manually replace GDS32.DLL in Windows\System32 with a version form Firebird.

The reason: both DB servers use the same file (GDS32.DLL) for client connections, but of course, different versions. Although the Interbase version was much older (6.5?, dated 2004 something) than the Firebird version (2.0, dated end of 2006) the version number inside the version resource is higher (6.5.something v.s. 6.3.something), so Windows was keeping the Interbase version, and did not allow Firebird to replace it (typical DLL hell:-) — and of course Firebird could not cooperate with this DLL.

Suggestion: I would recommend to the parties (most probably this should fall on Firebird) to use different filenames (e.g. add “fb” to all file names) OR improve the error message printed OR have a FAQ item somewhere on the Net explaining what to do (like this one :-). Of course, interoperabilitiy issues may arise (running Interbase and Firebird on the same system, using the same ports, etc.)…

A quick rundown on each:

• Delphi 2007 for Win32 is the latest release of good old Delphi with improved Vista and AJAX support (in the form of VCL for AJAX).
• Delphi for PHP is a RAD IDE and component set for PHP developers. This may be a BIG hit: it packs a powerful IDE with an architecture/component framework called VCL for PHP and adds on top of that professional debugging support and deployment wizardry. I will definitely have more first-hand news about this baby in the coming weeks.

It should be noted that Delphi for PHP is not strictly a CodeGear/Borland internal project, it is originated from qadram‘s qstudio, but now it is developed together by the two companies. VCL for PHP used to be called WCL and as far as I see will remain open source.

You can read more here (a very good blog, BTW).

If you seem a little bewildered by all the Delphi for Xxxx (e.g. Delphi for PHP has nothing to do with Object Pascal) and VCL for Yyyy tags, don’t feel lost! It is just POBC (plain old brand capitalization) .

While I am at it PasWiki seems to be interesting, too: it is a simple Wiki engine written in “Modern Pascal”. The angle I am keen to learn more about is its performance claims, an important subject and an area where Morfik should shine.

The original plan (from early this year) called for an investor buying the Developer Tools Group. It seems to me this did not work out, so Borland is executing Plan B. Fingers crossed…

Good luck CodeGear!

Some more thoughts: it seems Borland was not successful selling the IDE group, which does not bode well for the future of the IDE team.

On the other hand, if the newly formed company can operate profitably, our most beloved Delphi may have a stable future. This is a big if, though.

Borland (now CodeGear) is the last “big” developer tool vendor out there other than Microsoft, and those who really worked with Delphi know how powerful tool it is.

I find DavidI’s comment (“We’re also working on plans that can help developers take advantage of growing and emerging areas like web services, Ruby, Python and Ajax.”) interesting: on one hand it would be completely foolish for them to go into new languages before they get thir act right with current tools IMHO, on the other hand, it would be a marvelous fusion between CodeGear stuff and Morfik technology with some Mono spicing.

Just think for a moment:

• on the server side, based on Mono or .NET with all the server side tech they provide and Delphi Pascal/C#/Java as true and tried languages;
• on the client side Morfik technology providing language cross-compilation to JavaScript;
• and the two companies fine-tuning and enhancing the Morfik application framework with code from VCL and additional UI controls and services.

A wonderful day-dream…

Read an introduction about it in Wikipedia.

In a nutshell: the show is (supposed to be) going on. My take: we had these rumours Borland going out of business for over ten years. Now they seem to really try to get rid of the tools that made them the company we recognize. The complete development team is going into the new company (“DevCo”) too. This may play out well for the tools and for the customers in the end, since the new company can focus again on innovating in the area they are at home.

They don’t have an investor yet, though…

The question is who the buyer will be. It may be a competitor (there are not too many left) that will simply sink the tools and grab the customer base. Or it may be someone who keeps things up and running to milk the cow (not too likely, does not make much business sense). Or in the best case a company that continues in the best tradition of Borland to innovate and to excell.