I've actually used Delphi 4 before. Main reasons to going for 2005:
The .NET Framework personality of Delphi supports both the .NET SDK (Windows Forms, Web forms) and the Borland Visual Component Library, VCL.NET. Porting VCL applications from Win32 to the VCL.NET library is easy.
By using Borland Data Provider, an application can be shrink-wrapped and deployed to different database types, which might be in different departments. A central office might use Oracle, for instance, while a branch office uses SQL Server Developer Edition. Or a team might develop against one database and deploy using another. ISVs and VARs instantly broaden the appeal of a product written with the BDP, because it can target the leading databases in use in enterprises today without rewrites.
BDP in Delphi 2005 supports Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise and Developer editions, Oracle® 10g, Borland® InterBase,® IBM® DB2,® and Sybase.® Because it?s an open specification, third-party drivers can also be created for other databases.
More direct integration is possible through Borland® Janeva.? In Delphi 2005, wizards can directly inspect an Enterprise JavaBean? (EJB?) and discover classes inside it. These can then be used directly from Delphi 2005 as if they were native .NET Framework classes. Janeva handles the marshaling and mapping between the EJB and .NET Framework.
Delphi 2005 also supports CORBA® through a Delphi-language IDL mapping in the included Borland® VisiBroker® for Delphi product. This allows both client-side consumption and server-side provision of CORBA objects directly from Delphi components.
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I have some old applications that we use at the office, that need to be brought up to date.
Since they are made with older Delphi (4), this shouldn't be too bad of a task...
I'll share some thoughts after I get around to doing some work on it.
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