Borland gets in behind Linux

By ADAM GIFFORD

Software development tool maker Inprise/Borland is about to release Kylix, a tool which will allow developers to create critical business applications for the Linux operating system.

Chief executive Dale Fuller said it was good news for the nine million developers using Borland's Delphi tools and Visual Basic, because they would be able to use Kylix to convert those applications to run on Linux without having to rewrite their code.

"Linux is more scalable than Windows, it has lower costs."

Developing Kylix involved Borland making input into the Linux 2.4 kernel, which has just been released, to increase its security and stability.

Those improvements are available to all under the open-source model used to develop Linux, in which developers work voluntarily on parts of the operating system.

"Windows was nothing until the application development tools were there. The same with Solaris."

Borland is trying to make the platform an application is developed on irrelevant.

"We want to be able to say to the customer, 'Don't worry what platform you want, you can use the application on any platform'," said Mr Fuller.

Borland also makes JBuilder, which has about 40 per cent of the market for Java development tools.

It accounted for a third of Borland's US$47 million ($112.47 million) revenues last quarter.

Mr Fuller has a reputation as a turnaround specialist. When he took over two years ago, Borland was bleeding red ink.

"It was in disarray, it had no focus, no vision, no product differentiation, no accountability for products.

"The management had focused on a new venture they called enterprise. We changed the focus back to developers."

The company is creating development tools for technologies like WAP (wireless application protocol) and Palm, and working on ways to support the development and deployment of applications over the internet.