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Borland Software Corporation was a computing technology company founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad, and Philippe Kahn. Its main business was developing and selling software development and software deployment products. Borland was first headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, then in Cupertino, California, and then in Austin, Texas.[3] In 2009, the company became a full subsidiary of the British firm Micro Focus International plc. In 2023, Micro Focus (including Borland) was acquired by Canadian firm OpenText, which later absorbed Borland's portfolio into its application delivery management division.[4]

Key Information

History

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The 1980s: Foundations

[edit]

Borland Ltd. was founded in August 1981 by three Danish citizens – Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, and Mogens Glad – to develop products like Word Index for the CP/M operating system using an off-the-shelf company. However, the response to the company's products at the CP/M-82 show in San Francisco showed that a U.S. company would be needed to reach the American market. They met Philippe Kahn, who had just moved to Silicon Valley and had been a key developer of the Micral.[5] Kahn was chairman, president, and CEO of Borland Inc. at its inception in 1983 and until 1995.

The first name for the company was not Borland. It was MIT.[6] The acronym MIT stood for "Market In Time". The name "Borland" originated from a small company in Ireland, which was one of MIT initial customers. After they went bankrupt, MIT sought permission to acquire and use the name "Borland" in the U.S., following a legal recommendation during a rebranding prompted by a letter from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

The main shareholders at the incorporation of Borland were Niels Jensen (250,000 shares), Ole Henriksen (160,000), Mogens Glad (100,000), and Kahn (80,000).[citation needed]

Borland International, Inc. era

[edit]

Borland developed various software development tools. Its first product was Turbo Pascal in 1983, developed by Anders Hejlsberg (who later developed .NET and C# for Microsoft) and before Borland acquired the product which was sold in Scandinavia under the name Compas Pascal. In 1984, Borland launched Sidekick, a time organization, notebook, and calculator utility that was an early terminate-and-stay-resident program (TSR) for MS-DOS compatible operating systems.[7]

By the mid-1980s, the company had an exhibit at the 1985 West Coast Computer Faire along with IBM and AT&T.[8] Bruce Webster reported that "the legend of Turbo Pascal has by now reached mythic proportions, as evidenced by the number of firms that, in marketing meetings, make plans to become 'the next Borland'".[9] After Turbo Pascal and Sidekick, the company launched other applications such as SuperKey and Lightning, all developed in Denmark. While the Danes remained majority shareholders, board members included Kahn, Tim Berry, John Nash, and David Heller. With the assistance of John Nash and David Heller, both British members of the Borland Board, the company was taken public on London's Unlisted Securities Market (USM) in 1986.

Schroders was the lead investment banker. According to the London IPO filings, the management team was Philippe Kahn as president, Spencer Ozawa as VP of Operations, Marie Bourget as CFO, and Spencer Leyton as VP of sales and business development. All software development continued to take place in Denmark and later London as the Danish co-founders moved there. A first US IPO followed in 1989 after Ben Rosen joined the Borland board with Goldman Sachs as the lead banker and a second offering in 1991 with Lazard as the lead banker.

In 1985, Borland acquired Analytica and its Reflex database product. Forrester Research considered Borland with Analytica, Ashton-Tate, Lotus Development, and Microsoft the "Big Four" of personal computer software.[10] The engineering team of Analytica, managed by Brad Silverberg and including Reflex co-founder Adam Bosworth, became the core of Borland's engineering team in the US. Brad Silverberg was VP of engineering until he left in early 1990 to head up the Personal Systems division at Microsoft. Adam Bosworth initiated and headed up the Quattro project until moving to Microsoft later in 1990 to take over the project which eventually became Access.

In 1987, Borland purchased Wizard Systems and incorporated portions of the Wizard C technology into Turbo C. Bob Jervis, the author of Wizard C became a Borland employee. Turbo C was released on May 18, 1987. This drove a wedge between Borland and Niels Jensen and the other members of his team who had been working on a brand-new series of compilers at their London development centre. They reached an agreement and spun off a company named Jensen & Partners International (JPI), later TopSpeed. JPI first launched an MS-DOS compiler named JPI Modula-2, which later became TopSpeed Modula-2, and followed up with TopSpeed C, TopSpeed C++, and TopSpeed Pascal compilers for both the MS-DOS and OS/2 operating systems. The TopSpeed compiler technology still exists as the underlying technology of the Clarion 4GL programming language, a Windows development tool.

Fiscal 1987 revenue was $29.2 million and pretax earnings were $4.7 million. Borland by that year was directly confronting Lotus and Ashton-Tate.[11] In September 1987, Borland purchased Ansa-Software, including their Paradox (version 2.0) database management tool. Richard Schwartz, a cofounder of Ansa, became Borland's CTO and Ben Rosen joined the Borland board.

The Quattro Pro spreadsheet was launched in 1989. Lotus Development, under the leadership of Jim Manzi, sued Borland for copyright infringement (see Look and feel). The litigation, Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc.,[12] brought forward Borland's open standards position as opposed to Lotus' closed approach. Borland, under Kahn's leadership, took a position of principle and announced that they would defend against Lotus' legal position and "fight for programmer's rights".[citation needed] After a decision in favour of Borland by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the case went to the United States Supreme Court. Because Justice John Paul Stevens had recused himself, only eight justices heard the case, and concluded in a 4–4 tie.[12] As a result, the First Circuit Court decision remained standing but did not bind any other court and set no national precedent.[13]

Additionally, Borland's approach towards software piracy and intellectual property (IP) included its "Borland no-nonsense license agreement"; allowing the developer/user to utilize its products "just like a book". The user was allowed to make multiple copies of a program, as long as it was the only copy in use at any point in time.[14]

The 1990s: Rise and change

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In September 1991, Borland purchased Ashton-Tate, bringing the dBASE and InterBase databases to the house, in an all-stock transaction.[15] However, competition with Microsoft was fierce. Microsoft launched the competing database Microsoft Access and bought the dBASE clone FoxPro in 1992, undercutting Borland's prices. During the early 1990s, Borland's implementation of C and C++ outsold Microsoft's. Borland survived as a company, but no longer dominated the software tools that it once had. It went through a radical transition in products, financing, and staff, and became a very different company from the one which challenged Microsoft and Lotus in the early 1990s.

The internal problems that arose with the Ashton-Tate merger were a large part of the downfall. Ashton-Tate's product portfolio proved to be weak, with no provision for evolution into the GUI environment of Windows. Almost all product lines were discontinued. The consolidation of duplicate support and development offices was costly and disruptive. Worst of all, the highest revenue earner of the combined company was dBASE with no Windows version ready.[16][17] Borland had an internal project to clone dBASE which was intended to run on Windows and was part of the strategy of the acquisition, but by late 1992 this was abandoned due to technical flaws and the company had to constitute a replacement team (the ObjectVision team, redeployed) headed by Bill Turpin to redo the job.

Borland lacked the financial strength to project its marketing and move internal resources off other products to shore up the dBASE/W effort. Layoffs occurred in 1993 to keep the company afloat, the third instance of this in five years. By the time dBASE for Windows eventually shipped, the developer community had moved on to other products such as Clipper or FoxBase, and dBASE never regained a significant share of Ashton-Tate's former market. This happened against the backdrop of the rise in Microsoft's combined Office product marketing.[citation needed]

A change in market conditions also contributed to Borland's fall from prominence. In the 1980s, companies had few people who understood the growing personal computer phenomenon and so most technical people were given free rein to purchase whatever software they thought they needed. Borland had done an excellent job marketing to those with a highly technical bent. By the mid-1990s, however, companies were beginning to ask what the return was on the investment they had made in this loosely controlled PC software buying spree. Company executives were starting to ask questions that were hard for technically minded staff to answer, and so corporate standards began to be created. This required new kinds of marketing and support materials from software vendors, but Borland remained focused on the technical side of its products.

In 1993 Borland explored ties with WordPerfect as a possible way to form a suite of programs to rival Microsoft's nascent integration strategy. WordPerfect itself was struggling with a late and troubled transition to Windows. The eventual joint company effort, named Borland Office for Windows (a combination of the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro Pro spreadsheet, and Paradox database) was introduced at the 1993 Comdex computer show. Borland Office never made significant inroads against Microsoft Office. WordPerfect was then bought by Novell. In October 1994, Borland sold Quattro Pro and rights to sell up to a million copies of Paradox to Novell for $140 million in cash, repositioning the company on its core software development tools and the Interbase database engine and shifting toward client-server scenarios in corporate applications. This later proved a good foundation for the shift to web development tools.

Philippe Kahn and the Borland board disagreed on how to focus the company, and Kahn resigned as chairman, CEO and president, after 12 years, in January 1995.[18] Kahn remained on the board until November 7, 1996.[19] Borland named Gary Wetsel as CEO, but he resigned in July 1996. William F. Miller was interim CEO until September of that year, when Whitney G. Lynn (the current chairman at mergers & acquisitions company XRP Healthcare) became interim president and CEO (along with other executive changes),[20] followed by a succession of CEOs including Dale Fuller and Tod Nielsen.

The Delphi 1 rapid application development (RAD) environment was launched in 1995, under the leadership of Anders Hejlsberg.

In 1996 Borland acquired Open Environment Corporation,[21] a Cambridge-based company founded by John J. Donovan.[22]

On November 25, 1996, Del Yocam was hired as Borland CEO and chairman.

In 1997, Borland sold Paradox to Corel, but retained all development rights for the core BDE.[23] In November 1997, Borland acquired Visigenic, a middleware company that was focused on implementations of CORBA.[24][25]

Inprise Corporation era

[edit]

In April 1998, Borland International, Inc. announced it had become Inprise Corporation.[26]

For several years, before and during the Inprise name, Borland suffered from serious financial losses and poor public image. When the name was changed to Inprise, many thought Borland had gone out of business. In March 1999, dBASE was sold to KSoft, Inc. which was soon renamed dBASE Inc. (In 2004 dBASE Inc. was renamed to DataBased Intelligence, Inc.).

In 1999, Dale L. Fuller replaced Yocam. At this time Fuller's title was "interim president and CEO". The "interim" was dropped in December 2000. Keith Gottfried served in senior executive positions with the company from 2000 to 2004.

A proposed merger between Inprise and Corel was announced in February 2000, aimed at producing Linux-based products. The plan was abandoned when Corel's shares fell and it became clear that there was no strategic fit.

InterBase 6.0 was made available as open-source software in July 2000.

In November 2000, Inprise Corporation announced the company intended to officially change its name to Borland Software Corporation. The legal name of the company would continue to be Inprise Corporation until the completion of the renaming process during the first quarter of 2001. Once the name change was completed, the company would also expect to change its Nasdaq market symbol from "INPR" to "BORL".[27]

Borland Software Corporation era

[edit]

On January 2, 2001, Borland Software Corporation announced it had completed its name change from Inprise Corporation. Effective at the opening of trading on Nasdaq, the company's Nasdaq market symbol would also be changed from "INPR" to "BORL".[28]

Under the Borland name and a new management team headed by president and CEO Dale L. Fuller, a now-smaller and profitable Borland refocused on Delphi and created a version of Delphi and C++Builder for Linux, both under the name Kylix. This brought Borland's expertise in integrated development environments to the Linux platform for the first time. Kylix was launched in 2001.

Plans to spin off the InterBase division as a separate company were abandoned after Borland and the people who were to run the new company could not agree on terms for the separation. Borland stopped open-source releases of InterBase and has developed and sold new versions at a fast pace.

In 2001, Delphi 6 became the first integrated development environment to support web services.[29] All of the company's development platforms now support web services.

C#Builder was released in 2003 as a native C# development tool, competing with Visual Studio .NET. By the 2005 release, C#Builder, Delphi for Win32, and Delphi for .NET were combined into one IDE named "Borland Developer Studio", though it was still popularly known as "Delphi". In late 2002 Borland purchased design tool vendor TogetherSoft and tool publisher Starbase, makers of the StarTeam configuration management tool and the CaliberRM requirements management tool (eventually, CaliberRM was renamed as "Caliber"[30]). The latest[which?] releases of JBuilder and Delphi integrate these tools to give developers a broader set of tools for development.

Former CEO Dale Fuller quit in July 2005, but remained on the board of directors.[31] Former COO Scott Arnold took the title of interim president and chief executive officer until November 8, 2005, when it was announced that Tod Nielsen would take over as CEO effective November 9, 2005. Nielsen remained with the company until January 2009, when he accepted the position of chief operating officer at VMware;[32] CFO Erik Prusch then took over as acting president and CEO.[32]

In early 2007 Borland announced new branding for its focus around open application life-cycle management. In April 2007 Borland announced that it would relocate its headquarters and development facilities to Austin, Texas.[3] It also had development centers in Singapore, Santa Ana, California, Prague, Czech Republic, and Linz, Austria.

On May 6, 2009, the company announced it was to be acquired by Micro Focus for $75 million.[33][34] The transaction was approved by Borland shareholders on July 22, 2009, with Micro Focus acquiring the company for $1.50 per share.[35] Following Micro Focus shareholder approval and the required corporate filings, the transaction was completed in late July 2009.[36][37] Borland was estimated to have 750 employees at the time.[38]

On April 5, 2015, Micro Focus announced the completion of integrating the Attachmate Group of companies that was merged on November 20, 2014. During the integration period, the affected companies were merged into one organization. In the announced reorganization, Borland products would be part of the Micro Focus portfolio.[39]

Subsidiaries

[edit]
  • Leaders: In October 2005, Borland acquired Leaders, to add its IT management and governance suite, named Tempo, to the Borland product line.
  • CodeGear: On February 8, 2006, Borland announced the divestiture of their IDE division, including Delphi, JBuilder, and InterBase. At the same time, they announced the planned acquisition of Segue Software, a maker of software test and quality tools, to concentrate on application life-cycle management (ALM). On March 20, 2006, Borland announced its acquisition of Gauntlet Systems, a provider of technology that screens software under development for quality and security. On November 14, 2006, Borland announced its decision to separate the developer tools group into a wholly owned subsidiary. The newly formed operation, CodeGear, was responsible for four IDE product lines. On May 7, 2008, Borland announced the sale of the CodeGear division to Embarcadero Technologies for an expected $23 million price and $7 million in CodeGear accounts receivables retained by Borland.

Products

[edit]

Recent

[edit]

The products acquired from Segue Software include Silk Central, Silk Performer, and Silk Test. The Silk line was first announced in 1997.[40] Other programs are:

Historical products

[edit]

Unreleased software

[edit]

Marketing

[edit]
  • CB Magazine: It is an official magazine by Borland Japan.[42] The magazine was republished on April 3, 1997.[43]

Renaming to Inprise Corporation

[edit]

Along with renaming from Borland International, Inc. to Inprise Corporation, the company refocused its efforts on targeting enterprise applications development. Borland hired a marketing firm Lexicon Branding to come up with a new name for the company. Yocam explained that the new name, Inprise, was meant to evoke "integrating the enterprise".[44] The idea was to integrate Borland's tools, Delphi, C++Builder, and JBuilder with enterprise environment software, including Visigenic's implementations of CORBA, Visibroker for C++ and Java, and the new product, Application Server.

Frank Borland

[edit]

Frank Borland is a mascot character for Borland products. According to Philippe Kahn, the mascot first appeared in advertisements and the cover of Borland Sidekick 1.0 manual,[45] which was in 1984 during Borland International, Inc. era. Frank Borland also appeared in Turbo Tutor - A Turbo Pascal Tutorial, Borland JBuilder 2.

A live action version of Frank Borland was made after Micro Focus plc had acquired Borland Software Corporation.[46][47] This version was created by True Agency Limited.[48] An introductory film was also made about the mascot.[49]

See also

[edit]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ "Company Profile for Borland Software Corp (BORL)". Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  2. ^ As of January 31, 2016, Google Finance reports 1,168 employees, and Yahoo Finance reports 1,097.
  3. ^ a b "Borland to Relocate Corporate Headquarters to Austin" (Press release). Borland. April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on May 21, 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  4. ^ "Borland History and Product Links – OpenText". www.microfocus.com. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  5. ^ "Philippe Kahn". Wikiquote. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  6. ^ "FoRK Archive: origins of Borland name". xent.com. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  7. ^ Eckhouse, R. (May 1986). "New Product Reviews". IEEE Software. 3 (3): 79–80. doi:10.1109/MS.1986.233729. ISSN 1937-4194. S2CID 47193752.
  8. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (August 1985). "The West Coast Computer Faire". Byte. Vol. 10, no. 8. pp. 293–326. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  9. ^ Webster, Bruce (August 1986). "Going to the Faire". Byte. pp. 323–328. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  10. ^ Forbes, Jim (1985-10-21). "Corporate Mergers Offer Clout". InfoWorld. p. 24. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  11. ^ Ryan, Alan J. (1987-11-02). "Challengers: Borland". Computerworld. Vol. XXI, no. 44. p. SR11. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  12. ^ a b "Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc., 516 U.S. 233". Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  13. ^ Black, Ryan; Epstein, Lee (Spring 2005). "Recusal and the "Problem" of an Equally Divided Supreme Court". Journal of Appellate Practice and Process. 7 (1): 75–99, 81. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  14. ^ "Borland in the 1980s: "Treat Software Just Like a Book" – OSnews". www.osnews.com. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  15. ^ "Borland to Acquire Ashton-Tate in a $439-Million Deal". Los Angeles Times. 1991-07-11. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  16. ^ Delayed Graphical Products Put Dent in Borland’s Image Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, PC Week, April 20, 1992
  17. ^ Weber, Jonathan (February 23, 1992). "Kahn the Barbarian". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  18. ^ Maney, Kevin (January 23, 2007). "Baby's arrival inspires birth of cellphone camera — and societal evolution". USA Today. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  19. ^ "Kahn Resigns as Borland Director – Cites Increasing Demands of New Business" (Press release). Borland. November 7, 1996. Archived from the original on June 18, 2001. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  20. ^ "Borland Announces Interim President and CEO". borland.com. 1996-09-25. Archived from the original on 2001-06-06. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  21. ^ Borland to Acquire Open Environment Corporation[permanent dead link] Business Wire, May 13, 1996
  22. ^ "SEC Info - Open Environment Corp - '8-K' for 5/11/96 - EX-99.1". www.secinfo.com. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  23. ^ Veitch, Martin. "Corel takes Paradox command from stricken Borland". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  24. ^ Kane, Margaret. "Borland buys Visigenic". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  25. ^ Newswires, Dow Jones (1997-11-18). "Borland to Purchase Visigenic In Deal Valued at $150 million". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  26. ^ "Borland Becomes Inprise Corporation; New Company to Champion Next Wave in Enterprise Computing – Inprise Will Help Corporate Customers Develop, Deploy, and Manage Next Generation of Distributed Enterprise Applications" (Press release). Archived from the original on 2000-10-18. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  27. ^ "Inprise Corporation Plans to Change its Name to Borland Software Corporation". Archived from the original on 2004-12-12. Retrieved 2004-12-12.
  28. ^ "Borland Software Corporation Completes Name Change". Archived from the original on 2004-12-12. Retrieved 2004-12-12.
  29. ^ Partners, Global Research (2001-07-12). "Borland delivers on web services promises with Delphi 6". ITWeb. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  30. ^ "List of RM Tools Updated: September 2014 Version – the Making of Software".
  31. ^ Chris Noon (July 8, 2005). "Borland CEO Quits; Company Lowers Forecast". Forbes. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  32. ^ a b VMware hires away Borland CEO. Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine. CNet News, January 6, 2008.
  33. ^ "Foxbusiness.com". Fox Business. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09.
  34. ^ Sayer, Peter (2009-05-06). "Micro Focus buys Borland Software for $75 million". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  35. ^ "Borland Announces Stockholder Approval of Micro Focus Merger Agreement" (Press release). BusinessWire. July 22, 2009.
  36. ^ Borland Software Corporation (July 27, 2009). "Form 8-K: Current Report". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  37. ^ Micro Focus International plc completes acquisition of Borland Software Corporation Micro Focus press release, undated, retrieved July 27, 2009
  38. ^ "Borland bought by Micro Focus for $75M". San Jose Mercury News. May 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  39. ^ "Borland is now part of Micro Focus".
  40. ^ Segue Software (February 28, 1997). "Form 10-K: Annual Report". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  41. ^ "Borland's Eureka solves complex problems" (PDF). Computer Magazine. p. 124. January 1987. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  42. ^ "CB Magazine". Archived from the original on 1997-10-07. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  43. ^ "誌名変更・復刊の挨拶 開発者の生産性を追及する CB Magazine". Archived from the original on 1997-10-07. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  44. ^ Jamie Beckett (April 30, 1998). "Borland sheds past with new name, game". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  45. ^ "Will The Real Frank Borland Please Stand Up?". Borland History. Archived from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  46. ^ "Frank Borland is Back" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  47. ^ "Frank Borland is Back!". 29 November 2012.
  48. ^ "Frank is Back". Archived from the original on 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  49. ^ "80s Ad Icon Frank Borland Returns".

General references

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Borland

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Borland Software Corporation was an American software company founded in 1983 by Philippe Kahn in Scotts Valley, California, specializing in programming languages, development tools, and database management systems that significantly influenced personal computing in the 1980s and 1990s. The company quickly gained prominence with its low-cost, high-performance products, starting with Turbo Pascal in 1983, a fast compiler for the Pascal programming language that sold for $49.95 and became a bestseller among developers for MS-DOS systems. In 1984, Borland released Sidekick, a terminate-and-stay-resident utility for DOS that provided a notepad, calculator, and calendar, further establishing its reputation for innovative productivity software. By the late 1980s, Borland expanded into spreadsheets with Quattro (1987) and Quattro Pro (1989), as well as relational databases through acquisitions like Paradox in 1987, positioning it as a leader in PC database software during the early 1990s. Borland's growth accelerated through strategic acquisitions, including Ansa Software in 1987 for $29 million, which bolstered its database offerings, and the landmark $439 million purchase of in 1991, bringing popular products like dBASE and InterBase into its portfolio. The company went public in 1986, raising $25 million, and by 1994, it had achieved $482.5 million in annual sales with 986 employees, ranking among the top five PC software firms worldwide. Notable development tools from this era included Turbo C (1987), Borland C++ (1990s), and (1995), which enabled for Windows and became industry standards for professional programmers. In 1998, Borland briefly rebranded as Inprise Corporation to reflect a shift toward enterprise solutions but reverted to the Borland name in 2001 amid challenges from competition and legal issues, such as a resolved copyright dispute with Lotus Development Corporation in 1996. Facing financial difficulties in the 2000s, Borland sold assets like to Corel in 2000 and spun off its developer tools division as CodeGear in 2007, which included products like , JBuilder (a Java IDE), and . The company was acquired by International in 2009 for $113 million, integrating its tools into Micro Focus's portfolio. In January 2023, OpenText completed its $5.8 billion acquisition of , absorbing Borland's remaining intellectual property and products into OpenText's application delivery management and offerings. As of 2025, Borland operates as a brand under , with its legacy tools continuing to support software development and ALM processes globally.

History

Founding and Early Development (1983–1989)

Borland International, Inc. was founded in 1983 in , by Danish developers Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, and Mogens Glad, along with , a French-born entrepreneur who became the company's driving force. The company initially operated from a modest two-room office rented over a repair garage for $600 a month, reflecting its bootstrapped beginnings in . Borland's early focus centered on developing low-cost, high-performance software tools aimed at computer programmers, particularly students and hobbyists, to democratize access to programming in an era dominated by expensive mainframe systems. The company's flagship product, Turbo Pascal, launched in late 1983 and quickly established Borland as an innovator in integrated development environments (IDEs). This compiler for the Pascal programming language featured rapid compilation times—often completing in seconds—and an all-in-one IDE that combined editing, compiling, and debugging, priced affordably at around $50 to appeal to individual developers. By the late 1980s, Turbo Pascal had become a bestseller, with sales exceeding hundreds of thousands of copies and influencing subsequent IDE designs. In 1984, Borland expanded its productivity offerings with Sidekick, a terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) utility for DOS that provided multitasking features like a calculator, notepad, calendar, and phone directory, allowing users to switch seamlessly without exiting their main applications. Borland's product portfolio grew through strategic acquisitions and internal development in the mid-1980s. In , the company acquired Analytica, Inc., gaining database management system—a flat-file tool with graphical interfaces and analytical capabilities that supported input and visualization, which Borland then marketed at reduced prices to broaden its appeal. By 1987, Borland released , an IDE and compiler for the programming language emphasizing speed and compactness, launched in May to compete in the growing C developer market. That same year, Borland acquired Ansa Software for $29 million, incorporating the , which offered advanced querying and form-based interfaces for business users. Under Philippe Kahn's leadership as CEO from 1983 to 1994, Borland pursued aggressive expansion through direct-mail marketing, targeting programmers via catalogs and ads in computer magazines to bypass traditional retail channels. This approach fueled rapid revenue growth, from approximately $10 million in fiscal 1984 to $29.2 million by fiscal 1987, with pretax profits reaching $4.7 million amid the PC software boom. Early headquarters remained in Scotts Valley, evolving from the initial garage office to a dedicated facility as the company scaled, solidifying its position as a key player in developer tools.

Growth and Market Dominance (1990–1997)

During the early 1990s, Borland experienced significant expansion through strategic acquisitions that bolstered its position in the database software market. In 1991, the company acquired for $439 million in a stock swap, gaining control of popular products such as and Framework, which had a user base exceeding 3 million for alone. This move not only integrated these assets into Borland's portfolio but also elevated the company to one of the top five software firms globally, establishing leadership in database tools. Borland capitalized on this growth by advancing its development tools to support emerging platforms and paradigms. The release of Borland C++ 3.0 in 1991 introduced a robust with integrated object-oriented features, accompanied by the for building Windows applications. In 1992, for Windows 1.5 extended the company's flagship Pascal environment to the , building on the success of its DOS predecessor. Borland continued development of , a scalable client-server database acquired through the deal, releasing version 4.0 in 1995 to enhance offerings for networked environments. These innovations positioned Borland at the forefront of and Windows development. Borland faced legal challenges, including a 1990 copyright infringement lawsuit from Lotus Development Corporation over the menu structure in its Quattro and Quattro Pro spreadsheets, which mimicked Lotus 1-2-3. A 1992 district court ruling favored Lotus, temporarily enjoining sales, but the First of Appeals reversed the decision in 1995, affirming that the menu commands were not protectable by copyright, allowing Borland to continue its products. A pivotal product debut came in 1995 with , a environment derived from that emphasized visual programming and database connectivity for Windows. Designed to streamline application creation, Delphi quickly gained traction among developers, achieving widespread adoption and contributing to Borland's tool dominance. Amid this progress, the company reached a revenue peak of approximately $475 million in fiscal 1993, driven by strong sales in compilers and database products, while expanding into object-oriented tools and full Windows support. However, internal tensions culminated in founder Philippe Kahn's resignation as CEO in January 1995 following board disputes over strategy and performance. Borland's international presence grew substantially during this period, with established offices across —stemming from early operations in the UK and —and new expansions into to tap global markets for its software. By the mid-1990s, the company held leading in key categories, exceeding 50% for Pascal and C++ tools, underscoring its dominance in the PC development ecosystem.

Rebranding and Strategic Shifts (1998–2008)

In April 1998, Borland International announced its rebranding to Inprise Corporation, effective June 5, 1998, pending shareholder approval, as a strategic pivot toward enterprise computing and internet-focused solutions, including platforms and consulting services. This shift, led by then-CEO Del Yocam, aimed to distance the company from its legacy developer tools image and capitalize on emerging web technologies, but the initiatives largely failed amid market skepticism and execution challenges. The stock price, which had peaked near $40 per share in 1997, plummeted to under $10 by late 2000, reflecting investor concerns over the company's direction and financial performance. By November 2000, facing ongoing struggles, Inprise reversed course and announced a return to the Borland name, reverting officially to Borland Software on , 2001, to leverage its established brand in tools. Under new leadership from Dale Fuller, who joined as interim president and CEO in September 1999 and assumed the full role in 2000, Borland relocated its headquarters from Scotts Valley to , in 2000 to align with Silicon Valley's ecosystem. Fuller's tenure, lasting until July 2005, emphasized a strategic shift from traditional integrated development environments (IDEs) toward (ALM) solutions, integrating tools for , testing, and deployment to address development needs. This evolution included the release of in March 2001, an IDE enabling rapid application development for using and C++, marking Borland's entry into open-source compatible tools. To bolster its ALM portfolio, Borland acquired TogetherSoft Corporation in October 2002 for $185 million in cash and stock, incorporating advanced UML modeling and design tools like TogetherJ to enhance collaborative development capabilities. Amid intensifying competition from and other rivals, the company further consolidated by spinning off its developer tools division as CodeGear, a wholly owned , on November 14, 2006, to streamline operations and focus on ALM. In 2007, Borland announced another relocation, moving its headquarters to , by year's end to reduce costs and access talent, while retaining some West Coast functions in Cupertino. Leadership transitioned after Fuller's departure, with Tod Nielsen serving as CEO from November 2005 until December 2008, followed by Erik Prusch as acting president and CEO; by 2008, annual revenue had declined to $172 million, underscoring the challenges of the ALM pivot against dominant competitors. In May 2008, Borland sold CodeGear to for $23 million plus $7 million in receivables, allowing the buyer to continue legacy products like and while Borland refocused exclusively on ALM offerings. This divestiture capped a decade of turbulent strategic adjustments, as Borland grappled with market shifts and internal restructuring to sustain viability in a consolidating .

Acquisitions and Modern Integration (2009–present)

In 2009, Borland Software Corporation was acquired by International plc in a cash deal valued at $75 million, completed on July 22 after shareholder approval. This acquisition integrated Borland's (ALM) portfolio, including tools such as StarTeam for change management and CaliberRM for , into 's offerings focused on delivery. The move strengthened 's position in ALM solutions, allowing for enhanced interoperability among legacy and modern development environments. By 2015, following 's merger with in late 2014, the Borland brand was fully integrated into Micro Focus's Application Delivery Management (ADM) division, with legacy products continuing to receive support under the Micro Focus branding. This restructuring emphasized unified ALM capabilities, enabling continued maintenance and updates for Borland-derived tools within Micro Focus's broader ecosystem of application testing and solutions. Operations saw streamlining, including staff reductions as part of post-acquisition efficiencies, to align with the combined entity's focus on high-value . On January 31, 2023, was acquired by Corporation in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6 billion, incorporating Borland's ALM assets into OpenText's portfolio of , application modernization, and cybersecurity tools. This deal expanded OpenText's capabilities in software delivery management, with Borland's historical products rebranded and enhanced to support hybrid cloud environments and AI-driven workflows. Post-2020, has driven enhancements to Borland-derived tools, such as ALM/Quality Center, introducing cloud-native integrations, advanced analytics for , and improved compatibility in releases from 2023 through 2025. These updates prioritize scalability for distributed teams and compliance in regulated industries, while products like the updated Performer continue to provide performance testing under branding. As of 2025, the Borland name has been largely retired, with no independent operations remaining; its legacy endures through sustained product evolution within 's integrated offerings.

Products

Integrated Development Environments and Compilers

Borland's entry into integrated development environments (IDEs) began with , released in November 1983 as a DOS-based tool that integrated a , , and editor into a single environment. This product revolutionized by offering fast compilation times and a compact footprint, making it accessible for personal computers of the era. evolved through multiple versions, with 7.0 released in 1992 introducing support for and Windows development while maintaining with earlier DOS-based features. Its influence laid the groundwork for Borland's later Object Pascal-based tools. In 1991, Borland expanded its compiler offerings with Borland C++, a multi-platform IDE and compiler suite supporting both DOS and Windows environments. This tool provided editions such as Professional and Enterprise, enabling developers to build complex applications with features like inline assembly and resource compilers for graphical user interfaces. Borland C++ was maintained until around 2000, when it was succeeded by more advanced visual development environments, contributing significantly to the early adoption of C++ for commercial software. Delphi, introduced in February 1995, marked a pivotal advancement as a visual rapid application development (RAD) tool based on Object Pascal, targeting Windows 3.1 with its inaugural version, Delphi 1. It featured the Visual Component Library (VCL) framework for native Windows UI design, allowing drag-and-drop component placement and code generation to accelerate development. Key releases include Delphi 7 in 2002, which added enhanced database connectivity and web services support, and the XE series starting in 2010, which introduced modern IDE improvements. Delphi evolved from Turbo Pascal's foundations, extending its object-oriented capabilities into a full visual IDE. In 2011, with Delphi XE2, Embarcadero (which acquired Borland's tools in 2008) integrated the FireMonkey (FMX) framework, enabling cross-platform development for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android with GPU-accelerated graphics. Delphi remains actively developed as of 2025 under Embarcadero Technologies (an Idera company since 2015), with versions like Delphi 12.3 emphasizing AI integration and 64-bit enhancements. C++Builder, launched by Borland on February 26, 1997, provided a visual IDE for C++ development, incorporating a drag-and-drop designer similar to Delphi's while leveraging the VCL for component-based UI construction. It integrated seamlessly with Delphi projects, allowing mixed-language development and shared libraries, which streamlined team workflows. Early versions focused on Windows applications, but under Embarcadero's stewardship from 2008 onward, it expanded to support FMX for cross-platform capabilities. Notable releases include C++Builder 10.4 Sydney in 2020, which added Linux server-side development and improved C++17 conformance. As of 2025, C++Builder continues to evolve under Embarcadero Technologies (an Idera company since 2015), with version 12.3 offering C++23 features and enhanced debugging tools. Borland ventured into Linux development with Kylix in 2000, a cross-platform IDE extending Delphi and C++Builder for native Linux applications using the CLX framework based on Qt. It released two main versions—Kylix 1 and Kylix 2—before version 3 in 2002, but faced challenges from immature Linux adoption and compatibility issues, leading to discontinuation shortly thereafter due to limited market demand.

Database and Data Management Tools

Borland entered the database market in the mid-1980s through acquisitions that expanded its offerings from flat-file systems to management systems (RDBMS) suitable for desktop and client-server environments. These tools emphasized user-friendly interfaces, querying, and integration for application development, targeting both individual users and small businesses. Key products included for early analysis, as a core relational solution, for legacy compatibility, and for embeddable SQL-based operations. Reflex, acquired from Analytica in 1985 as Borland's first company purchase, was an innovative management system for DOS that pioneered graphical user interfaces and support on PCs. It allowed users to view and manipulate data through multiple perspectives, including form, list, graph, and report views, facilitating quick analysis without complex coding. Integrated into Borland's early productivity suite, Reflex influenced later tools but was phased out by the early 1990s as relational databases gained prominence. Paradox, originally developed by Ansa Software and acquired by Borland in 1987, became a flagship desktop relational DBMS for DOS and Windows, emphasizing ease of use for non-programmers through its "Query By Example" interface. Released initially for DOS in 1985, it evolved with versions such as 3.5 (1990) for enhanced networking, 4.5 (1993) rewritten in Borland C++ for better performance, and Windows editions up to version 11 in 2004 under Corel after Borland's divestiture. Core features included built-in form designers for , report generators for output customization, and SQL support via the 1988 Paradox SQL add-on, which emulated standards and enabled relational queries, joins, and multi-table operations. The (BDE) further unified access to Paradox tables, supporting scalability from single-user setups to shared environments. In 1991, Borland acquired for $439 million, gaining , the dominant database with over 3 million users, and integrating it alongside to cover both end-user and developer needs. , originally from 1980, evolved under Borland into Visual dBASE during the , adding graphical Windows interfaces while maintaining compatibility with legacy applications compiled using tools like , an compiler Borland supported through runtime libraries and file formats (). This allowed seamless migration of DOS-era dBASE III/IV scripts to Windows, preserving features like indexed and programmable reports for business applications. However, competition from relational alternatives like led to declining market share by the late . InterBase, acquired by Borland in 1991 as part of the Ashton-Tate deal and first prominently released in 1994, offered a lightweight, embeddable SQL RDBMS designed for client-server and standalone use across platforms like Windows, Unix, and embedded devices. It supported full ANSI SQL compliance, multi-version for robust transaction handling without locking entire tables, and replication features for data synchronization in distributed environments. Borland open-sourced InterBase 6.0 in 2000, spawning the Firebird by the community for continued open development. Subsequent ownership passed to in 2008, where it continues to be developed as of 2025, with the 2020 edition introducing enhancements like tablespaces for storage management, incremental backups, and optimized SQL for inequality operators, maintaining its focus on secure, low-administration deployments for mobile and IoT applications.

Application Lifecycle Management Solutions

Borland's pivot toward (ALM) solutions in the early 2000s marked a strategic emphasis on tools that support the full , from requirements gathering to deployment and maintenance, aiming to enhance collaboration and efficiency in enterprise environments. This shift was driven by acquisitions that integrated , , automated testing, and modeling capabilities into a cohesive suite, allowing teams to manage complex projects with improved visibility and compliance. By 2009, following Borland's acquisition by , these tools evolved further under subsequent ownership by in 2023, incorporating modern integrations like agile methodologies and workflows. StarTeam, originally developed by Starbase Corporation, serves as a central platform for , issue tracking, and project collaboration in lifecycles. Borland acquired Starbase in early 2003 for approximately $30 million, integrating StarTeam into its ALM portfolio to provide a unified repository for , documents, and builds that supports distributed teams and process . Key features include configurable workflows, baseline management, and integration with build tools, enabling traceability across development phases; later versions under added agile planning boards and synchronization to accommodate modern practices. As of 2025, continues to maintain StarTeam as an enterprise solution for hybrid environments, emphasizing and for large-scale deployments. CaliberRM emerged as Borland's dedicated tool in the mid-2000s, designed to capture, analyze, and track stakeholder needs throughout the development process to ensure alignment with business objectives. It facilitates impact analysis, baseline comparisons, and full from requirements to test cases and defects, supporting compliance standards like through audit trails and change history logging. Borland enhanced CaliberRM in with features for richer content handling, such as inline images and embedded tables, to streamline collaboration in distributed teams. Integrated within the broader ALM suite, it connects seamlessly with other Borland tools for end-to-end visibility, reducing costly late-stage changes by up to 50% in user-reported scenarios. Through the 2006 acquisition of Software for $100 million, Borland incorporated SilkTest and Silk Performer into its ALM offerings, focusing on automated testing to validate application functionality and performance. SilkTest automates functional and for web, desktop, and mobile applications using a scriptless interface based on visual object recognition, supporting frameworks like , .NET, and Eclipse-based apps with reusable test assets and data-driven execution. Complementing this, Silk Performer handles load and by simulating thousands of virtual users to identify bottlenecks, offering protocol-level scripting and real-time monitoring for scalable performance validation. These tools integrate with StarTeam for defect tracking, providing comprehensive across the lifecycle. Borland acquired TogetherSoft in October 2002 for $185 million in cash and stock, bringing Together—a UML-based modeling and design environment—into its ALM suite to support architectural planning and round-trip engineering. Together enables visual modeling of software systems using UML diagrams, code generation for languages like and C++, and team collaboration via shared repositories, facilitating refinement and documentation. It emphasizes model-driven development, allowing between models and code to maintain consistency in large projects. Post-acquisition, Borland modularized Together into specialized editions for .NET and , enhancing its role in bridging requirements and implementation phases within the ALM framework.

Other Software Offerings

Borland's , released in 1984, was a pioneering terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) personal information manager (PIM) for systems, allowing users to access utilities without exiting their primary applications. It featured a notepad for text editing, a , an appointment , an , and a phone dialer, making it a versatile productivity tool for early PC users. By 1991, had sold over three million copies, influencing the development of subsequent multitasking utilities in DOS environments. In 1991, Borland acquired , gaining control of Framework, an integrated suite originally launched in 1984. Framework combined a , , database manager, outliner, graphing capabilities, and tools within a unified outlined windowing interface, enabling seamless across components. This all-in-one approach positioned it as an early example of integrated , though it was discontinued by the late 1990s as Borland shifted focus to developer tools. Borland's portfolio also included middleware offerings following the 1997 acquisition of Visigenic Software for approximately $150 million. Visigenic specialized in CORBA-based object request brokers (ORBs), with its flagship VisiBroker providing connectivity for distributed applications in and C++ environments. Borland integrated VisiBroker into its JBuilder IDE for enhanced enterprise development, though these tools saw limited longevity before the company's strategic pivots in the early . Borland pursued several unreleased projects in the , reflecting experimental efforts in emerging technologies, though details remain sparse due to their cancellation.

Corporate Structure

Subsidiaries and Spin-offs

In 2006, Borland restructured its developer tools division by spinning it off as a wholly owned named CodeGear, which was launched on November 14 to focus exclusively on advancing integrated development environments (IDEs) such as , , JBuilder, and related product lines. CodeGear operated independently with its own brand, management, and sales strategy, aiming to streamline Borland's focus on while preserving the legacy IDE portfolio. In 2008, Borland sold CodeGear to for $23 million, transferring ownership of the IDE assets and marking the end of Borland's direct involvement in developer tools development. Borland established several international subsidiaries to support its global operations, particularly in and the region. Borland B.V., based in the , handled European sales, distribution, and from the through the . Similarly, Borland Pty Ltd managed operations in the APAC market, including localization and for regional users. Following Micro Focus's acquisition of Borland in 2009, the company ceased to maintain independent subsidiaries, with its operations fully integrated into Micro Focus's structure, which was subsequently acquired by in January 2023, and the prior spin-off of CodeGear completing the divestiture of standalone entities.

Key Acquisitions

Borland's first major acquisition occurred in 1985 when it purchased Analytica, gaining access to the database product that strengthened its early offerings in tools. This move allowed Borland to expand beyond programming tools into database software, positioning it among key players in the emerging PC software market alongside companies like and Lotus Development. In 1987, Borland acquired Ansa Software for approximately $29 million in a stock swap, obtaining the relational database management system, which became a cornerstone of its database portfolio and competed effectively with products like . In 1991, Borland acquired for $439 million in a stock swap, significantly bolstering its database portfolio with , the market-leading relational database system, as well as Framework, an integrated productivity suite. The deal also included Ashton-Tate's interest in , a client-server database that later integrated into Borland's product lineup. Despite facing antitrust scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice over concerns of reduced competition in database software—resulting in requirements for Borland to license compatibility to third parties—the acquisition elevated Borland to one of the top five PC software companies and enhanced integration for broader data handling capabilities. Borland continued its expansion into in 1997 by acquiring Visigenic Software for approximately $150 million in stock. Visigenic's VisiBroker technology provided CORBA-based object request broker tools, enabling Borland to support enterprise-level and in environments. To advance its modeling and capabilities, Borland acquired TogetherSoft Corporation in for $185 million in cash and stock. The deal brought UML modeling tools and Java-focused development solutions, which Borland rebranded as Together, facilitating better support for object-oriented and enterprise application . In 2006, as part of its pivot toward (ALM), Borland acquired Software for about $100 million in cash. This acquisition introduced testing tools such as SilkTest and SilkPerformer, enhancing Borland's offerings in and automated testing to address the full development lifecycle.

Leadership and Notable Figures

Philippe Kahn co-founded Borland International in 1983 and served as its president, CEO, and chairman until 1995, guiding the company from startup to a global leader in tools without initial funding. As a visionary leader, Kahn pioneered innovative marketing strategies for products like , emphasizing affordability and rapid development to capture the market in the . His tenure was marked by aggressive growth, but internal disputes with the board led to his resignation as CEO in January 1995, after which he remained chairman briefly before departing fully. Following Borland, Kahn founded Starfish Software and later Fullpower Technologies, focusing on mobile and wearable innovations. Anders Hejlsberg joined Borland in the early 1980s as a lead developer and became the principal architect behind several landmark products during the 1980s and 1990s. He originally developed the PolyPascal compiler before rewriting it as , a fast and affordable IDE that revolutionized Pascal programming for PCs and sold millions of copies. Hejlsberg later served as chief architect for , extending 's paradigm to Windows with visual tools that integrated and database connectivity. His contributions emphasized efficiency and developer productivity, influencing Borland's dominance in IDEs. In 1996, Hejlsberg left Borland to join , where he led the design of . Mogens Glad, a Danish , co-founded Borland in 1981 alongside Niels Jensen and , initially as Borland Ltd in , before relocating operations to and incorporating as Borland International in 1983 with . Glad contributed to early engineering efforts, helping establish the technical foundation for Borland's initial software offerings in compilers and tools during the company's formative years. His role focused on core development and operations in the startup phase, supporting the rapid prototyping of products like . Delbert Yocam served as Borland's CEO from 1996 to 1999, succeeding during a period of strategic realignment. Under Yocam, a former Apple executive, Borland acquired development tools from Visigenic Software in 1997 and rebranded to Inprise Corporation in 1998 to reflect a shift toward enterprise integration and services, aiming to expand beyond traditional developer tools. His leadership emphasized partnerships and new markets, though the company faced financial challenges leading to his resignation in 1999. Dale Fuller became Borland's interim CEO in April 1999 following Delbert Yocam's departure and assumed the role permanently in 2000, serving until July 2005. A veteran from Apple and WhoWhere?, Fuller refocused the company on core developer tools, overseeing the reversion from Inprise back to Borland Software Corporation in November 2000 to leverage brand recognition and streamline operations amid profitability pressures. He pivoted Borland toward application lifecycle management (ALM) solutions, emphasizing integrated platforms for requirements, testing, and deployment to address enterprise needs, which helped achieve two consecutive profitable quarters by late 2000. Fuller's tenure prioritized financial recovery and channel partnerships, with nearly 50% of revenue from resellers by 2002. Erik Prusch joined Borland as in November 2006 and advanced to and CEO from December 2008 to July 2009, navigating the company's final independent phase before its acquisition by International. Previously at , Prusch managed financial restructuring and operational transitions during a time of declining revenues and market shifts, preparing Borland for sale by focusing on asset optimization and cost controls. His brief CEO stint aligned with patterns in his career, where he often led firms through sales or mergers, ensuring a smooth handover in Borland's case to the acquiring entity.

Marketing and Branding

Innovative Marketing Campaigns

Borland pioneered direct-mail marketing in the 1980s to distribute its flagship product, , through targeted advertisements in computer magazines such as Byte and , which facilitated low-cost reach to a niche audience of programmers. This approach, combined with the product's innovative , generated significant viral word-of-mouth as early adopters shared experiences of its rapid compilation times and ease of use, driving without heavy reliance on traditional retail channels. Central to Borland's branding was an emphasis on affordability and accessibility, positioning its tools as a "programmer's paradise" through aggressive pricing that undercut competitors. retailed for $49.99 upon its 1983 launch, far below the hundreds of dollars charged by rivals like Microsoft's Pascal compiler at $400, allowing hobbyists and professionals alike to experiment with high-performance development without prohibitive costs. This strategy highlighted the software's speed—compiling programs in seconds—and intuitive interface, fostering loyalty among developers who bundled it with utilities like for enhanced . Borland amplified its visibility through prominent trade show appearances, particularly at events throughout the 1980s and 1990s, where booths featured live coding demonstrations to showcase real-time application development and captivate attendees. Complementing these efforts were strategic partnerships with developer-focused publications like , which ran Borland advertisements, product reviews, and puzzle-style promotions that engaged the technical community and reinforced the company's reputation for innovative, user-centric tools. The 1990s marked an expansion phase, exemplified by Borland's 1991 acquisition of for $439 million, which it marketed as transforming the company into a database powerhouse by integrating alongside to dominate the market. To penetrate international markets, Borland established localized subsidiaries in , including headquarters in and operations in , , and , enabling region-specific campaigns such as tailored product launches and translated materials that adapted to local developer needs and boosted global sales to $113 million by fiscal 1990.

Name Changes and Corporate Identity

In 1998, Borland International Inc. underwent a significant , changing its name to Inprise to signal a strategic pivot toward enterprise applications, , and amid the emerging dot-com . The rename, approved by shareholders on June 5, 1998, aimed to attract a broader customer base in distributed enterprise development while distancing the company from its desktop software roots. However, the shift confused long-time developers and eroded the strong associated with Borland's developer tools, leading many to believe the original company had ceased operations. By late 2000, amid ongoing financial struggles and the dot-com bust, Inprise announced its intention to revert to Borland Software Corporation to restore customer trust and refocus on core and development tools. The name change, completed on January 22, 2001, under CEO Dale Fuller, emphasized the enduring value of the Borland name in the developer community and aligned with efforts to stabilize the company's identity post-rebranding fallout. Following its acquisition by International plc in July 2009 for $113 million, Borland operated as a , with its ALM products integrated into Micro Focus's lineup. In January 2023, Corporation completed its approximately $5.8 billion acquisition of Micro Focus, further absorbing Borland's offerings into OpenText's broader portfolio of application modernization and management solutions, marking the gradual transition away from the standalone Borland corporate identity.

Legacy and Cultural Influence

Borland's and environments became cultural icons in , training generations of programmers during the and 1990s by providing accessible, high-performance tools that democratized coding on personal computers. These products introduced integrated development environments (IDEs) that combined editing, compilation, and debugging in a single interface, making professional-level programming feasible for hobbyists and students alike. The influence extended to modern IDEs, as key architect , who developed and led 's creation, later shaped Microsoft's C# language and .NET Framework, incorporating concepts from Borland's tools into . Additionally, 's object-oriented Pascal dialect inspired open-source alternatives like Lazarus, a cross-platform IDE fork that replicates 's visual component library and (RAD) workflow using the compiler. A notable element of Borland's cultural footprint was the Frank Borland mascot, a fictional depicted as a reclusive coder in the , featured in advertisements and user manuals from the 1980s through the 2000s to humanize the and to developers. This character, illustrated riding a while writing software, symbolized the approachable, innovative spirit of Borland's affordable tools. In the 2010s, , which acquired assets from Borland in 2008, revived Frank in nostalgic campaigns to reconnect with legacy users and highlight the enduring of RAD paradigms. Borland pioneered affordable IDEs and RAD methodologies, offering products like for under $50, which disrupted the market dominated by expensive mainframe tools and enabled of graphical user interfaces without extensive coding. This approach influenced the broader industry by emphasizing visual design and component-based development, setting precedents for drag-and-drop interfaces in subsequent tools. Borland's open-source initiatives further amplified this impact; in the early 2000s, the company released under an open license, leading to database that fostered community-driven enhancements and widespread adoption in embedded and applications. Following Borland's acquisition by in 2009 and subsequent integration into after its 2023 purchase of Micro Focus, the company's legacy persists in enterprise through tools like OpenText Software Delivery Management (formerly ALM), which supports application lifecycle governance, testing, and for large-scale deployments. At its historical peak in 1991, Borland achieved revenues of $226.8 million, reflecting its dominance in development tools before the Ashton-Tate acquisition boosted combined figures to around $500 million; today, these assets contribute to OpenText's broader portfolio valued in the billions, underscoring Borland's foundational role in modern software ecosystems.

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