Talk about Technologies, Software Architecture and Management

Tip: Delphi on Vista to work in XP mode

During the CG’s chat session few days ago, small discussion happened – how to make Delphi to ignore Vista on Vista. No surprise, but it is very easy and feature was in Windows for a few versions already – it is called “compatibility mode”. For Delphi being around for long time, developer might find some issues running old versions of the IDE on Vista: security restrictions, debug mode, even look-and-feel. Whatever reason you do not like Vista affecting your development environment, there is very easy way to go around it. From this article at HowToGeek: Windows Vista, like any new operating system, will have problems running some older versions of applications. This is especially true in Vista, considering all the changes. Thankfully Read more

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago

Touch Screen made easy

Last night I have wrote about upcoming Windows 7. One of the advertised features is multi-touch screen support. Nice. Over past few years I have worked with various TabletPC/Touch screen devices and I like the concept in general. TabletPC laptops today would cost you more compare to similar no-touch model. But there is an alternative you can get for 10 times less – converter kits. Somewhat bulky, they allow converting any monitor (LCD or CRT) into touch-enabled counterpart and only for about two hundreds dollars. Of course there are some exceptions, like this HP Pavilion. There is one I liked more so far – NaviMouse/NaviNote/EZ-canvas by NAVIsys – I like the last one. You can buy it here. And not to miss Read more

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago

Was Windows Vista a marketing pushup?

Windows Vista… even with SP1 out we still do not see much of the new platform. Users and the industry are resilient in adoption of Windows 6 in their everyday activities. To be truthful, many things available in Vista (GUI level) could be “hacked into” XP (for example with Stardock’s desktop products), or even available from MS itself (Silverlight, .Net 3.x, etc). As a result, aside being bundled with a new computers, Vista might not give you much. And for some developers could be considered a problem to develop for Vista. But I think there is more into it then meets the eye. With public talks about Windows 7 – (1), (2) – Vista might appear for many just as a test release before Read more

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago

Delphi in pictures

Something I think would worth to mention somewhere on the CG web-site. Did you know that aside from Zarco’s awesome Delphi place hosted on about.com there is actually “Delphi in pictures” recorded by 3DBuzz – great way introduce someone to Delphi. Do not miss it. Even though it is recorded back in 2006, it is still interesting to watch. Should we have more coming from CG’s marketing?

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago

NG: Dr. Dobb’s and CodeGear Talk

In the light of yesterday’s chat with CG/Embarcadero team (replay), another reference caught my attention. Brad White posted in CG’s public newsgroup a link to Dr. Dobb’s interview with Michael Swindell and Nick Hodges talking about Delphi for PHP, Delphi and Embarcadero Technology’s recent acquisition of CodeGear. In reality this interview is more about Delphi for PHP then anything else, but it is a good exposure for CG’s technologies at Dr.Dobb’s J still. Listen to the podcast for more info.

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago

Was: Microsoft Blames Users for Vista Problems by Marco

Marco has commented on the article by one of the Microsoft folks about the failure of the Vista launch. After few minutes looking for the guy, I think I found the author for the article – Mark Russinovich, “Technical Fellow” and his Springboard series. There is my take on it. As a developer I do not like UAC, as an administrator, I do see where it is coming from and what it is trying to achieve. Problem Vista faced immediately was that many applications were written with little to none analysis about security implications. How often do you see applications expecting be able to write into system areas, starting with registry, windows folder, even Program Files (which not recommended for user Read more

By Serguei Dosyukov, ago