Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucdn!spraggej
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Friday, 9 Nov 1990 21:47:20 EST
From: John G. Spragge <SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Message-ID: <90313.214720SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Turbo 6.0
References: <1990Nov8.234636.16175@cc.ic.ac.uk> <28014@usc>

In article <28014@usc>, ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) says:

>Wait a minute: does this mean that to use Turbo Pascal 7.0, I
>have no option but to run Windows?  IMHO that would be a terrible
>decision!  There are supposed to be 30e6 to 40e6 PCs out there,
>with 1e6 or so Windows machines.

A market of a million units is worth going after, I think.
Besides, Borland seems to be unwilling to bet their lives
on the failure of MSWindows. They're in good company there.

>                                  Further, more end-users are
>attracted to Windows as compared with hobbyist-programmers who
>make up a good fraction of Borland's audience in buying $100-$200
>compilers.

A programmer's level of professionalism is determined by the
price of his/her compiler? I use Turbo, and I like to think
of myself as a professional. Or maybe you meant both hobbyists
and professionals; in which case, see my next point.

But seriously, to write for anyone else means, by definition,
writing for users. And that means working with the user
interface they choose. And I suggest that, more and more, that
is going to mean Windows or some other GUI. I seldom work in
windows for development (yet) but I use Windows for other
things. When I'm a programmer, windows is something I would
like my program to talk to. When I'm being a user, windows
is something I sometimes want to talk to.

>Ajay Shah, (213)734-3930, ajayshah@usc.edu

disclaimer: Queen's University merely supplies me with computer services, and
            they are responsible for neither my opinions or my ignorance.

John G. Spragge