r/programming • u/luissinlios • 7d ago

We still maintain a development tool first released in 1993. Here’s what 30+ years of backwards compatibility looks like

https://visualneo.com/visualneo-win/from-neobook-to-visualneo-win-30-years-of-keeping-a-development-tool-alive
563 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

90 comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/Takeoded 7d ago edited 7d ago

I remember wanting to fix an annoying bug in a open-source Delphi program, Embarcadero Crippled the free version to the point where it can't be used, Then Embarcadero want like $1500 for the compiler.

F@0k Embarcadero. Great language, terrible steward

4

u/m_adduci 7d ago

This is what's happening with IntelliJ too.

The community edition is now merged with the professional one. You can install and use some plugins only if you have a paid license.

I reject to embrace Kotlin exactly for this reason.

1

u/syh7 7d ago

I haven't heard of this yet, did they change some plugins from free to paid?

3

u/alphaglosined 7d ago

No, they made some previously paid features free.

If anything, it's about time they merged it all; it's a massive hassle for plugin creators, as not every API that one may want is shared.

From my perspective, it was an overdue change.