My Facebook messenger App has been bombarded with questions since it became known that I now work for Embarcadero. Most of the messages are in the form of questions; what is the future of Smart Mobile Studio, will I be involved in this or that and so on.

Well those that have followed my blog over the years, or stay in touch with me via Delphi Developer on Facebook, should know by now that I don’t tip-toe around subjects; I tend to be quite direct, and even though it’s absurdly premature –let’s just grab the hot potato and get it over with.

Future of Smart Mobile Studio

Me working for Embarcadero will not change the future of Smart Mobile Studio. Smart is our baby and the whole team at The Smart Company AS will continue, like we have for the past eight years, to evolve, improve and foster Smart Pascal. So let me be absolutely clear on this: my work on Smart Mobile Studio will continue uninterrupted in my free time. Smart Pascal is a labour of love, passion and creativity.

So there is a crystal clear line between my personal and professional time.

Nor is there any potential conflict in this material, as some have openly speculated; Delphi and Smart Mobile Studio targets two fundamental different market segments; Delphi is the best native development suite money can buy, while Smart is the best development system for building mobile, cloud and large-scale JSVM (JavaScript virtual machine) infrastructures.

What people often forget, even though I have underlined it 10.000 times, is that Smart Mobile Studio is written in Delphi (!) It was created to compliment Delphi. To enrich and allow Delphi developer’s to re-apply existing skills in a new paradigm.

In many ways Smart Mobile Studio is a testament to what Delphi is capable of in the right hands.

My role at Embarcadero

It was actually Facebook that “outed” me when I changed my employment status. Instead of a silent alteration on my profile, it plastered the change in bold, underline and italic.

But writing anything about this would be premature, nor do I feel it’s my place to do so.

All I can say is that I am very excited to work for the company that makes Delphi. A product that I love and have used on a daily basis since it was first launched.

Smart Mobile Studio 3

To make those of you who have been worried about what might happen to Smart Mobile Studio as a consequence of my new path, I hope I have made you feel optimistic about the future so far. Because I am super optimistic! Seriously, this is awesome!

As I type this Smart Mobile Studio 3.0 beta 3 should be available via the automatic-update tool for our customers. I can’t remember a year where we have worked so hard; and we have achieved above and beyond the schedule we set back in 2017.

I don’t know how many nights my girlfriend has found me scribbling data-paths and formulas on my home office white-board, or getting up at 03:30 at night to test some idea – but when you compare our new RTL with the previous, especially our focus on node.js, you will witness a quantum leap on quality, features and technical wealth.

Separating apples from pears

Speaking of the future; my blogging style wont change, but I will avoid mixing apples and pears. Delphi posts should be about Delphi, and Smart posts should be about Smart. I don’t think I need to explain why that is a good idea. It’s important to maintain that line between work and personal projects.

The only reason I mention both here now, is to put things to rest and make it clear for everyone that it’s all good. And it’s going to get even better.

Smart Mobile Studio 3.0 is an epic release! And Delphi is going from strength to strength. So there is a lot to be happy about! I cant even remember when object pascal developers had so many options at their disposal.

Cheers

Jon L. Aaasenden