>Microsoft may produce mediocre SW, but they don't kick their loyal and
>long-time customers as Borland uses to behave.
>
>Greetings.
>
>Claudio.
>---------
>Claudio Valderrama C.
>Ingeniero en Informática - Consultor independiente
>http://members.tripod.com/cvalde

Dear Claudio,

I'm beginning to feel like I'm really a programming masochist. IBM gives me,
as a developer, FREE VisualAge development tools, and yet I still maintain
my first preference for Borland products. These tools enable me to develop
object-oriented implementations from object-oriented analysis with less
impedance, and yet, I still love Delphi.

Maybe, it's a programmed/learned response behavior (Pavlov(?)) that I got in
college when struggling with UCSD Pascal, Turbo Pascal suddenly appeared at
the comp sci lab. It was like magic. Or, I might even say love.

To be fair, I must also say that I came to know, and fell in love with
Interbase because of the Borland label.

Sometimes, I think our situation is almost like co-dependency. Sometimes, I
can almost feel the exact feeling of co-dependent wives who ask, "How long
should I continue living with an abusive an inept spouse?"

A few years back, I remember reading an article about Delphi programmers -
the ones who programmed Delphi, to a conference. They all felt jubilant.
Alongside their meeting place was also a gathering of Cobol programmers. The
Delphi programmers had a good time joking among themselves about the
antiquity of Cobol and the stupidity of Cobol programmers, until... the talk
turned to pay. It turned out that the drap looking Cobol people were making
10 times more than they were... Talk about turning tables...

I'm beginning to see Borland/Inprise like I see codependency...

You just love it...
You have to leave it...
But you know, that one of these days, you just might have to go away...

I'm just glad that my domestic affairs are a lot better.

Joseph Alba
jalba@...