In the meantime, Philippe Kahn underwent an experience common to barbarians and pagans throughout the centuries: He had, like Constantine, a religious epiphany. In his case, revealed truth came in the guise of object-oriented programming (OOP). Having been struck down by the light, Kahn arose a changed soul determined to bring his new truth to all of Borland’s products. In the future, all of them would have big heaping dollops of objects integrated into their very beings.
The result of Kahn’s conversion was a promotional strategy in 1992 and 1993 that centered around telling Borland’s resellers and customers about the wonders of objects and the amazing benefits their presence in your software brought to humanity. Bemused resellers nationwide packed into crowded seminar rooms throughout the United States to learn about the hottest new features in the latest releases of Paradox and Quattro were instead first treated to exciting lessons on encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance, key elements of object-oriented code. The launch was a less-than-stellar success, as the loud sounds made by stultified attendees slipping to the floor in a deep state of unconsciousness tended to be a distraction to those who successfully remained awake.
And speaking of OOP, what exactly is it? This excerpt from “What is Object-Oriented Software?” by Terry Montlick of Software Design Consultants (http://www.softwaredesign.com) should explain it all to you:
“An object is a ‘black box’ which receives and sends messages. A black box actually contains code (sequences of computer instructions) and data (information which the instruction operates on). Traditionally, code and data have been kept apart. For example, in the C language, units of code are called functions, while units of data are called structures. Functions and structures are not formally connected in C. A C function can operate on more than one type of structure and more than one function can operate on the same structure.
“Not so for object-oriented software! In o-o (object-oriented) programming, code and data are merged into a single indivisible thing—an object. This has some big advantages, as you’ll see in a moment. But first, here is why SDC developed the ‘black box’ metaphor for an object. A primary rule of object-oriented programming is this: as the user of an object, you should never need to peek inside the box!”
From this, many potential buyers of Borland software derived the idea that a) Borland software came in black boxes, and b) it was potentially dangerous to open those boxes.
All humor aside, building a promotional campaign for business software around a technology that was incomprehensible to anyone but programmers was obviously a ridiculous thing to do, but preaching religious moderation to the newly enlightened is often difficult. Kahn didn’t stop with Borland’s promotions, however. He began to closely supervise the development process of Borland’s products, particularly that of the in-the lab Windows version of Paradox, in order to ensure it adhered to proscribed orthodoxy. Kahn became personally involved in making sure the product had enough object-oriented capabilities, possessed the right “methods” and, of course, as a newly civilized man, was garbed in an appropriate color scheme. The scheduled release date predictably slipped under these ministrations, and the introduction of Paradox for Windows scheduled for early 1992 drifted into 1993.
It’s a common reaction for the newly converted to build a monument to mark the occasion of their exaltation into the faith, and Kahn decided to build his. This was a brand-new $120 million Scotts Valley, California, office complex (observers noted the design looked suspiciously like the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington) that company humorists designated “Versailles.” The need for this expenditure was questioned by many, because as sales of dBASE IV continued to deteriorate the company wasn’t exactly rolling in profits.
Music is also part of the ritual of worship, and Kahn, an enthusiastic amateur saxophonist and jazz aficionado, began releasing CDs featuring him and other jazz enthusiasts playing their little hearts out. The cost of producing these CDs was about $300,000.00 a pop, and they didn’t turn out to be profit centers. The need for these expenditures was also questioned by many, as Borland stock slid from a high of $86.00 per share to about $5.00 per share. (Those who listened to the CDs proclaimed the music to be “pleasant.”)