[fpc-pascal] Re: Embarcadero/CodeGear officialy interested in Firebird and on native versions of Delphi for other operating systems ...

[Bee]

> I think they had to make a descision: Either against Microsoft or with 
> them. They chose to go with Microsoft so they now have to do everything 
> that supports M$ OSes and avoid everything that could drive users to 
> open source. In both ways there is no guaranty for success: If they try 
> to compete with Microsoft they have a strong enemy and if they 
> collaborate with them they can go down with them if open source becomes 
> stronger and stronger.

IMO, they had made a very wrong decision. Supporting open source doesn't 
always mean to open source everything. Besides, by supporting open 
source, they could also support M$ as well. Supporting open source 
doesn't mean against M$. Most of open source projects come with 
cross-platform support in mind, including M$. Even Apple indirectly 
supports M$ (Safari, iTunes, etc). Nobody denies that M$ still dominates 
the market. So, supporting open source should be the safest choice for 
them. If M$ grows bigger, they can grow bigger with M$. If M$ goes down, 
they can still grow bigger with other platforms (linux, mac, etc).

IMO, RemObjects realize this. That's why their Oxygene/Prism could work 
on .Net (M$) and Mono (non M$). Also that's why their other OP-based 
products starting to support FPC and Lazarus (to target non M$ 
platforms). RO is smarter than CodeGear/Embarcadero, obviously. ;)

-Bee-