Yeah I can't remember the last place I saw running any Borland/Embarcadero software with the exception of some really old stuff still compiled with C++Builder6. That place was also running Visual Studio 6 for some stuff too :) Ahh the memories.
Delphi 3 was the first program that I pay for (second was visual foxpro). Obviously, at US99 a student like me could do it. I'm moderator in the http://www.clubdelphi.com and is sad to see all the same faces all the time. New blood is hard to get, specially in latin america, when .NET is affordable/free and all the open source stuff.
Is sad that the misguided strategy that start with the Borland has pass up to Embarcadero. Where they must look for broad appeal they decide to milk instead :(. Delphi was huge (Delphi 3 - 5) and if they have more critical mass now will be a powerful force. The worst? Delphi is SOOOO good that have survived despite all the problems so far.
Still, Delphi + Python are my favorites languages of all the time...
Delphi back in the late 90s was kick ass. Nothing could touch it for desktop application development in my opinion. The people who forced themselves to use MFC and C++ on Windows were missing out big time on the ease of use of Delphi and VCL. It wasn't until C# and .NET that things got to the same ease of development as I was used to with Delphi.
