Daniel,

D> I don't think it's too late. In 1998, you already had Borland
D> Delphi(with a cheap Personal Edition, if I recall)

Delphi Personal was crippled to the state of being unusable for
anything. Releasing something like the turbo products at that time
(and giving away copies to students and hobbyists) would have
prevented the flow of users towards competitors.

D> And, there are some today that are not upgrading to the
D> latest versions because they only want Delphi(Personal/Express or
D> Professional) and not the other personalities and tools that comes
D> with the BDS.

doesn't make a difference, since the complete BDS is priced about the
same as the single products (and selling the same boxes under several
different names did contribute to the confusion. I have two boxes
here, one labelled Delphi 2006 and the other labelled BDS 2006,
otherwise identical).

I haven't heard anyone not upgrading because they get too much for the
price. I do have heard people not upgrading because the price is too
high.

D> And, with the Turbo version they will be introducing
D> Turbo Express versions, that will be free(similar in fashion to VS
D> Express).

I know all too well about turbo products. What I say is that *that*
would have made a difference years ago. I do hope it will now, but I
fear it won't.

D> And, by releasing the Turbo versions, the Developers Tools Group(aka
D> DevCo) is at least trying to show that the developer(small or large)
D> is their target market, compared to Borland that seemed to target
D> larger companies.

They are displaying a different attitude, indeed (although I believe
the Turbo idea predates the sale plan).

But all this is OT here, unless we figure out how it would help or
damage Firebird. ;-)

Ciao
--
Nando Dessena