Embarcadero Technologies, the database tools vendor that acquired Borland’s tools line, including Delphi and JBuilder, has taken all of its tools, both its own and Borland’s, and put them into a single license, all-in-one package called Embarcadero All-Access.
All told, it’s quite a collection, totaling 18 application and database development tools. They range from rapid application and Web development (Delphi, JBuilder, C++Builder and 3rdRail) to database design and development (ER/Studio, Rapid SQL, DBArtisan) to database management (Change Manager, Performance Center).
Embarcadero did it for a number of reasons, according to Jan Liband, vice president of marketing at Embarcadero. Developers may find themselves using more tools than before as companies lay off staff and work gets consolidated. Or they may have to reverse engineer someone else’s work in another toolset.
Then there was the main complaint: it was too expensive to buy all the products separately. So the company put everything onto one license for $2,250.
Up to now, that makes it a packaging story. Here’s where it gets interesting. Embarcadero is offering what it calls the InstantOn feature that allows for developers to quickly load a tool into memory if they need it for a one-time task. When they are done, the program exits memory without being installed.
This saves the hassle of install, since many developer machines are locked down tight. After all, your developers might be interfacing directly with production database servers. The IT department won’t allow anything to be installed on those machines without their approval. Now it’s possible to load up a tool for a quick one-shot job without having to go through the install hassle.
There are three licenses: Workstation, for an individual; Network Managed Named User, which allows a user license to float between workstations; and Network Managed Concurrent, which allows All-Access licenses to be shared among users in an organization.
Embarcadero All-Access is available now.