Why Delphi Win32 is important

Delphi Win32 is important because of Linux.

Right now it is one of the best options for cross-platform development. Kylix is dead (correct me if I am wrong); Lazarus is not ready yet (but it's on the way); Mono is not good enough yet (and is doomed to play catch with Microsoft .NET). Other portable options (Java/GTK/QT/etc) don't have a nice RAD environment like Delphi.

On the other hand, WINE has evolved (in the last years) enough to run most Win32 applications written in Delphi 7 or less. If the developer avoids certain problematic components, it runs 100% fine. Faster than Java, more complete than Mono, easier to code than GTK / QT / whatever. Been there, done that.

Many software solutions these days are web applications - cross-platform by design. For the few cases where you can't run in a browser, a Delphi Win32 application running under Wine is an excellent solution. This way you can please both markets easily.

ACBr and Wine

We are replacing our custom-made ECF (Emissor de Cupom Fiscal) component. The new versions will use ACBr. In other news, the software now runs almost perfectly under Wine. There's no speed issues - it's faster under Wine than it would be if it was written in .NET or Java.