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The beauty of the technology industry is that you needn't be all that old before you start recognizing some of its cycles. People in other lines of business are not so lucky. Few transportation specialists have seen the rise and fall of more than a couple of trends in the way people move about. But for those of us who watch the C/C++ compiler market segment, the comings and goings of the market leaders makes for ceaseless entertainment.
Take Microsoft Corp. C. For years it was the market leader. But then along came Borland International Inc.'s Turbo C and then Turbo C++. With the help of a few less-than-mediocre releases of the Microsoft product and some solid innovations, Borland supplanted Microsoft as the CIC++ leader. Borland C++ 3.1, with the first commercial implementation of two avant-garde language features, parameterized types and exceptions, established itself as the premier C/C++ DOS and Windows development tool--for a few years. Then, perhaps to the surprise of some reviewers, Microsoft came bounding back into the market with Visual C++.
So now it is Borland's turn to try to recapture the CIC++ market. It will try to do it with Borland C++, Version 4.5, but unfortunately it's just too little, too late. We looked at a beta release of the new compiler and found that what used to pass for state of the art has quickly started to show its age. (The program is scheduled to ship by December, Borland says.)
A lesson in OLE 2.0
Version 4.5's reason for being is, quite simply, its classes for using OLE 2.0. The other additions to the product really do not add up to much. Sure,...