EMBT has announced a new “Starter Edition” for both Delphi and C++ Builder. It will be priced at $199 U.S. It apparently will not be crippled in any way though some features will still be limited – but the license will limit users to only earning a maximum of $1,000 U.S. from its use and require an upgrade to Pro or higher if that is exceeded.
The goal is clearly to appeal to hobbyists, those wanting to teach themselves programming or trying to start a small business on a shoestring, and non-IT professionals wanting a programming tool to help them with their work (e.g. doctors, engineers, etc).
Users who later decide to upgrade from this edition to Pro or higher will get a $100 credit.
There have been a couple of attempts in the past to provide an entry-level edition, inclusing a free version for awhile in the Delphi 2006 time-frame. But these were either crippled (e.g. could not add components to the tool palette) or did not allow commercial use whatsoever. In both cases though these editons did measurable damage to sales of the Pro edition and EMBT has been wrestling ever since trying to figure out a way to fill this segment.
Hopefully this time they have it about right so it will attract many new users without any significant damage to Pro sales and result in both increased sales and profit.