RAD Studio XE6 released - First Look webinar tomorrow

RAD Studio XE6 was released today. Customers with support and maintenance are downloading it now, and a trial version is available.

More details are available on the official product page and In the What's New section of the DocWiki.  In addition to new features (more on these later), and as promised, there is also a fairly impressive, but apparently incomplete list of bug fixes.

Embarcadero will be showing off this new release tomorrow with a First Look webinar followed by a Q&A session.  If you can't attend tomorrow, then a replay should be available soon.

Delphi revenue up again in the third quarter of 2013

Embarcadero attributes the continued growth to interest in their mobile support.

http://www.embarcadero.com/press-releases/rad-studio-xe5-demand-doubles

Even More XE5 Tour Dates

Embarcadero has released some more stops on their XE5 launch tour.

http://www.embarcadero.com/world-tour

Some XE5 Tour Dates

Enjoy the food on us. Join us for a meal and an exclusive session where you will learn how to move from desktop to mobile development delivering true native Android and iOS apps. Be one of the first to see an exclusive preview of the upcoming release of new Embarcadero Android and iOS mobile development technology and how you can get early access to these tools. At these 90 minute technical and interactive workshops, you will: See Android and iOS true native apps built from a single codebase See multi-device, true native development tools in action Learn about the 5 mistakes that developers make on moving to mobile and how to avoid them Talk with development experts on how you can make the move to mobile today Attendees of these events will have the opportunity to win a Google Nexus 7 FHD Tabletand will receive a promotional code for a special discount on the purchase of the new release of Delphi®, C++Builder®, and Embarcadero® RAD Studio products. Registration is free to qualified professionals, but space is limited so register today! Toronto, ON Boulder, CO Montreal, QC Santa Monica, CA Irvine, CA Austin, TX Who should attend:  Professional developers  Project team leaders  Software development managers  Technical development directors About your host:  Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of award-winning tools for application developers and database professionals so they can design systems right, build them faster and run them better, regardless of their platform or programming language. For questions about these events or Embarcadero’s iOS and Android development tools, please contact Embarcadero sales by email or phone at 888-233-2224.

It's alive! Delphi sales increased in 2013. Again.

In 2011, Embarcadero announced that Delphi (Rad Studio) sales had increased 15% each year for the three consecutive years since they acquired CodeGear.

Embarcadero’s Delphi Reaps Three Consecutive Years of Double Digit Growth since Acquisition from Borland

The following year, they announced an additional 54% growth over the previous year:

Embarcadero Technologies Grows Delphi and C++ by 54% in 2011

Yesterday Embarcadero announced that sales to date represent a 34% increase over 2012:

Demand for iOS Support Drives Year-Over-Year Growth in Sales for RAD Studio Development Tools

It's almost enough to make one question the whole "Delphi is dying!" meme.

RAD Studio XE4 World Tour - Canadian Dates

In case you've missed it, Embarcadero's Rad Studio XE4's launch tour will be in Montreal and Toronto on June 5th and 6th.

Montreal, QC
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 @ 6:00-8:00PM
Hôtel Europa

Register for Montreal


Toronto, ON
Thursday, June 6, 2013 @ 6:00-8:00PM
Northern District Library

Register for Toronto


Welcome to this RAD Studio event focusing on iOS development.

RAD Studio is the multi-device, true native app development platform for everyone who needs to develop apps for desktops, tablets and smartphones, and get them to market fast. You will see how you can manage one codebase, one team, and one schedule without sacrificing performance. True native apps give you faster applications with more control, tighter security and a better user experience.

This presentation is organized by Embarcadero and will focus on:

• Multi-device, true native application development from a single codebase for iOS, Windows and Mac.
• Reduce complexity and cost with just one of everything for your app development: one dev team, one codebase, one budget, one schedule.
• Be fast to market with extendable and reusable visual component building blocks for faster and highly maintainable development.

Delphi XE2 - A few of my favourite things...

If you follow Delphi at all, then you will have noticed lots of recent activity around the upcoming release of Delphi (Rad Studio) XE2.  And with big ticket items like native 64 bit, Mac and iOS support, FireMonkey, VCL themes, data binding (VCL and FireMonkey), etc, there is a lot to be excited about.  I find myself looking for opportunities to use some of these new features.

However, and with Embarcadero's permission, I'd like to point out a couple of features that don't necessarily get as much press, but are immediately useful to me.

ODBC support in dbExpress

I've been a fan of dbExpress since it was introduced, but the biggest drawback has always been that you need a driver for the specific database you want to use.  Otherwise, you're out of luck.  XE2 (finally) helps fill in the gaps by adding ODBC support for dbExpress.

HTTPS in stand alone DataSnap servers

DataSnap (formerly Midas) has been around since Delphi 3, but (IMHO) really became useful when it was overhauled in Delphi 2009 and later with features such as being decoupled from COM, adding filters for encryption and compression, REST support, etc.  If pressed, you could argue that DataSnap supported SSL, but this was only when used through IIS, which is a bit of a cop out (again, IMHO).  In XE2, you can build stand alone DataSnap servers that support HTTPS.

If you want to learn more, Embarcadero is currently on a World Tour (initially 70 stops in 30 countries, and more stops are being added), Delphi Live starts September 12th and CodeRage 6 starts October 17.

The Toronto stop for the World Tour is Wednesday, August 31 at the North York Regional Library.  Note that it starts at 6:00 PM instead of 7:00 PM, like the user group meetings.  If you will be attending, please register online so they can plan accordingly.