A while ago I sent Atanas Popov, the new General Manager of the app tools part of Idera - ie Embarcadero - an email, introducing myself and basically wanting to find out where things are going, and what the plans are. We just finished an hour-long Skype chat and I am extremely positive.

A while ago I sent Atanas Popov, the new General Manager of the app tools part of Idera - ie Embarcadero - an email, introducing myself and basically wanting to find out where things are going, and what the plans are. We just finished an hour-long Skype chat and I am extremely positive.

I can't talk many specifics, since it touched on future plans and also things as an MVP I need to keep confidential. But I can say:
 - Many of the things he identified as important are things that I, if I was in his position, would also want to change
 - I think I communicated the importance of some things that he hadn't yet considered (which is fair, it's all new and he's picking up a vast amount of stuff in his new job.)
 - He gave the impression of being genuinely interested in my thoughts. That was good.
 - His views on many parts of Delphi / C++Builder aligned with my own views - I was pleasantly surprised to hear him say things that I nodded and agreed with, often things quite fundamental to the product and also how it's run.

I've thought about product direction a lot, and about where I'd take D/CB if I was in charge. It was very nice - fantastic in fact - to have a conversation where, before I mentioned something, he brought up a topic and a view, and I found it something I'd already identified myself and that I agreed with. Not everything, of course, and I want to continue the conversation to express the importance of some important things, but much (much!) more than I suspect there would have been in a hypothetical conversation with older management. In fact this is the key bit I want to mention out of the whole conversation. He really seemed to be quite on-point. Like I said, it's nice to have someone bring up a topic and find you already agree with them. It's nice to feel listened to when you talk about other items too.

I asked what I can mention in public / on G+ that we spoke about, and they are: are the quality of the product (in a number of areas), FMX being cool but needing work, and the evolution of the Delphi language (C++ too.) There was a lot more; I'm sorry I can't discuss the rest or go into much detail about the ones I listed.

People regularly post here or in other forums with concerns about the product's direction, especially after the Idera acquisition, and that's why I contacted him originally and it's why (with his ok) I am posting here that we spoke. I left the conversation with the sense of relief in many ways: I think that many things I feel are important will in fact be targeted, and that the overall direction of both Delphi and CB will go close to where I would like it to go. I feel very positive.