Board index » delphi » 16 bit versus 32 bit market?

Timothy Trimble

Delphi Developer
Wed, 30 Dec 1998 03:00:00 GMT

16 bit versus 32 bit market?

I'm cursious as to what market developers are currently aiming for.  I'm
currently developing a shareware application in Delphi 1.0.  I have 2.0
but I'm not sure if I want to make the transition yet.  I would like to
have the additional features of 2.0 but I don't want to eliminate any
market potential of Windows 3.1.  Any comments?

-------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy "THE TIMINATOR" Trimble                      \ /
Internet: ttrim...@powergrid.electriciti.com   --==([*])==--  
http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/timinator/                    

-------------------------------------------------------------
"When I go, I want to go peacefully, in my sleep, like my
Grandfather; Not screaming like the passengers in his car."
-------------------------------------------------------------

 
Pete Humphre

Delphi Developer
Sat, 02 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


Quote
Timothy Trimble wrote:

> I'm cursious as to what market developers are currently aiming for.  I'm
> currently developing a shareware application in Delphi 1.0.  I have 2.0
> but I'm not sure if I want to make the transition yet.  I would like to
> have the additional features of 2.0 but I don't want to eliminate any
> market potential of Windows 3.1.  Any comments?

I have had only one contract that required 32-bit development, and that
didn't involve Delphi.  Most customers do not want to be forced into
32-bit software and are happy with their 16-bit apps.  This puts developers
into a bad position because the tools vendors are rushing to 32-bit,
leaving their 16-bit products to languish and fall behind.

--
Pete Humphrey
p...@swcp.com

ben

Delphi Developer
Sun, 03 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


Quote
Pete Humphrey wrote:

> Timothy Trimble wrote:

> .......
> --
> Pete Humphrey
> p...@swcp.com

What about real time processing software under DOS.
This is a forgotten area!
All 32 bit, PASCAL like, compilers are Windows compilers, but what to do
when a very high performance is needed!

Ben

A.A. Olowofoye

Delphi Developer
Sun, 03 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


Quote
Timothy Trimble (ttrim...@powergrid.electriciti.com) wrote:

: I'm cursious as to what market developers are currently aiming for.  I'm
: currently developing a shareware application in Delphi 1.0.  I have 2.0
: but I'm not sure if I want to make the transition yet.  I would like to
: have the additional features of 2.0 but I don't want to eliminate any
: market potential of Windows 3.1.  Any comments?

Develop for 16-bit - but support 32-bit features (such as long filenames and
32-bit registry stuff. etc.), using the Call32NT (or TPW32_10.ZIP)
interfaces. That way, you'll kill two birds with one stone. My installer
does something like this to fully support Win16 and Win32. The only
advantage that "full" Win32 software has over this approach is that "full"
Win32 programs run in their own separate address spaces (and, perhaps, you
can have bigger static structures). Personally, I think these advantages are
overrated in most cases, and are often a double-edged sword. The advantage
of this approach is that your software will work perfectly in all Windows
platforms, and under any Windows emulator.

The Chief
--------
Dr. A{*word*73}la A. Olowofoyeku (The African Chief)
Email: la...@keele.ac.uk
Author of: Chief's Installer Pro 2.80a for Win16 and Win32:
           Winner of PC PLUS Magazine Gold Award (April 1995 U.K. edition)
           ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/util/cinstp28.zip

Andrew Morr

Delphi Developer
Thu, 07 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


Pete Humphrey <p...@swcp.com> scribed:

Quote
>Timothy Trimble wrote:

>> I'm cursious as to what market developers are currently aiming for.  I'm
>> currently developing a shareware application in Delphi 1.0.  I have 2.0
>> but I'm not sure if I want to make the transition yet.  I would like to
>> have the additional features of 2.0 but I don't want to eliminate any
>> market potential of Windows 3.1.  Any comments?
>I have had only one contract that required 32-bit development, and that
>didn't involve Delphi.  Most customers do not want to be forced into
>32-bit software and are happy with their 16-bit apps.  This puts developers
>into a bad position because the tools vendors are rushing to 32-bit,
>leaving their 16-bit products to languish and fall behind.
>--
>Pete Humphrey
>p...@swcp.com

Its a Pity we can't use Delphi2 with win32s and write all our stuff
for 32bit platforms.  One of the things I really liked about the
Windows market was that you only had to maintain one set of source.
You could even include 3.1 DLLs in your installation (for winhelp etc)
if you were installing onto a windows 3.0 machine.  As opposed to
mainting seperate sources to support different Unix platforms for
example.  Oh well....
Gabriel B. Gonzal

Delphi Developer
Fri, 08 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


On Sat, 13 Jul 1996 17:24:12 -0700, "Timothy Trimble"

Quote
<ttrim...@powergrid.electriciti.com> wrote:
>I'm cursious as to what market developers are currently aiming for.  I'm

All new development is 32-bit, but will continue to support existing
DOS apps.

Quote
>have the additional features of 2.0 but I don't want to eliminate any
>market potential of Windows 3.1.  Any comments?

It depends heavily on you market.  You might be able to dictate to
your customers they must upgrade, but in another situation this might
be pure suicide.  I have one application which I've sold (as opposed
to custom-wrote), and I'm lucky enough all of my customers (all 8 of
them!) have no problems with getting a nicer app.

gg
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gabriel B. Gonzalez           Information and Computer Science & Biology
gabr...@uci.edu                         University of California, Irvine
103117....@CompuServe.COM
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eivind Bakkestu

Delphi Developer
Sat, 09 Jan 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Re:16 bit versus 32 bit market?


an>Its a Pity we can't use Delphi2 with win32s and write all our stuff
an>for 32bit platforms.  One of the things I really liked about the
an>Windows market was that you only had to maintain one set of source.
an>You could even include 3.1 DLLs in your installation (for winhelp etc)
an>if you were installing onto a windows 3.0 machine.  As opposed to
an>mainting seperate sources to support different Unix platforms for
an>example.  Oh well....

You are contradicting yourself. In the win32 market, you will currently have to
maintain and test for 2 platforms (95/NT). Supporting win32s would make that
three.

Personally, I think it is good that D2 does not support win32s other than by
making pure API programs. If users need programs with extended capabilities,
they should get an "extended capabilities" OS first. IMHO...

--
Mr. HillBilly (eiv...@infolink.no)
 tHyperSoft HyperReader 1.0t

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