On one hand, Borland provides UML capabilities to Microsoft Visual Studio developers, via Borland's Together product; on the other hand, Borland believes it offers a viable alternative to Visual Studio via its Delphi platform, with easier transitions to Microsoft technologies.

Microsoft rolled out its Visual Studio 2005 tools platform on Monday here, a day before Borland began its Borland DevCon 2005 conference in the same city.

"I think one of the major reasons that developers are so interested in our tooling and why it provides such a value is because they don't want to spend all their time writing new things and learning new things when they don't have to," said Rob Cheng, Borland director of marketing for developer solutions, in an interview at DevCon on Wednesday.

Citing difficulties developers had in transitioning from Microsoft's Visual Basic language to the .Net platform as an example, Cheng said Microsoft requires a dramatic learning curve with tools and languages while Borland does not. Borland's road map for its Delphi product family accommodates several planned Microsoft technologies.

By the end of the calendar year, Borland plans to ship Borland Developer Studio 2006, code-named "Delphi DeXter." It features the Delphi 2006 programming language and adds C++ language support. Borland's predecessor to Developer Studio, Delphi 2005, supported C# and Delphi but not C++.