> I wouldn't recommend it, though. Sooner or later you'll want to use a
> third-party control and you won't be able to do this, even with IBO,
> unless you have D5 Pro or better.

If cost is a limiting factor I really doubt they are going to want to
purchase additional 3rd party components. With IBO they get a rich suite of
many visual controls, dialogs, etc. that rival the best of the third party
offerings anyway.

But, if they do want to invest in some 3rd party stuff there are a fair
amount of vendors who actually support the native IBO data access
architecture. Most notably, report writers such as RBPro and RPPro. This
will do nothing but improve over time. I actively talk to and encourage
vendors to support the native IBO architecture. Rubicon, WebHub and
DevExpress are in the cross hairs too...

Most all freeware with source controls can readily be adapted to work with
the native IBO architecture as well. There are numerous of them in the
AddOns folder that people have contributed already. I help all those who
endeavor to accomplish this too.

Considering IBO's popularity and how I license it this should appeal most to
the Open Source people since a much wider range of OS coders can be included
on projects if only the Standard version of Delphi needs to be purchased and
third party controls are minimized anyway.

It is a really easy process for people to get their OS projects "sponsored"
by CPS (my company). This means that as long as people are using IBO for
that particular project and there are no commercial revenues coming from it,
they are granted free full source access to IBO. So far I have a 100%
approval record for all projects asking for such sponsorship.

FWIW,
Jason
http://www.jwharton.com