February 18, 2026
Stickers, Plotters, and Penguins
Delphi is 31 years old – innovation timeline
Nostalgia explodes as Linux loyalists crash the party
TLDR: Delphi dropped a giant, free 31-year tech timeline you can print wall-size. Comments turned into a tug-of-war: nostalgic fans cheering Borland-era memories and print-it jokes, while critics blasted the lack of Linux support and others pointed to FreePascal—making the infographic a history lesson and a fresh relevance debate.
The 31-year anniversary timeline for Delphi—yes, the classic programming tool born from Object Pascal—arrived as a giant, 16‑foot printable tech museum, and the comments instantly turned into a mix of warm hugs and spicy roasts. Fans reminisced about Borland-era swagger (“Delphi developers do it better!!!”), shared glow‑ups like moving from VB6 to Delphi, and joked about sneaking into the office to print the free PDF on a client’s plotter. The timeline itself flexes from flip phones (hello, StarTAC) to iPhone 17, browser wars, social media, Fortnite, and ChatGPT, all leading up to RAD Studio 13.
Then the drama hit. One veteran missed the “compact development environment” with one installer and a perpetual license—translation: simpler times, fewer subscriptions, less bloat. Another lobbed the biggest grenade: “31 years old and it can’t run on GNU/Linux. What a waste.” Cue the split between Windows lifers and the penguin brigade, while a pragmatic voice chimed in: “FreePascal is fairly solid for its niche.” Nostalgia battled relevance, stickers met sysadmins, and the takeaway was clear: this gorgeous history wall is free and fun, but the community is still arguing about where Delphi belongs in 2026.
Key Points
- •A 31st-anniversary “Information Technology Innovation Timeline” showcases Delphi’s evolution since 1995 within broader industry milestones.
- •The timeline spans programming languages, operating systems, browsers, social media, gaming, and AI, culminating with RAD Studio 13.
- •It highlights mobile technology from the 1996 Motorola StarTAC to today’s Google Pixel 10 and iPhone 17, and platforms like iOS and Android.
- •Web history is covered from Netscape Navigator to Chrome and Edge, alongside social media growth with Facebook and LinkedIn.
- •The high-resolution, 16-foot-wide printable PDF is available as a free download, intended as a reference and conversation piece.