Borland

Borland Software Corporation
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Software development
Founded	1983; 43 years ago
Founder	Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad, Philippe Kahn
Headquarters	Austin, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Dale L. Fuller (former CEO), Philippe Kahn (founder and former CEO), Tod Nielsen (former CEO)
Products	Turbo Pascal, Sidekick, Turbo C, Quattro Pro, Delphi, InterBase, JBuilder
Parent	OpenText (via Micro Focus International)

Borland Software Corporation was a technology firm established in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad, and Philippe Kahn. The company focused on creating and marketing software tools for development and deployment. Originally based in Scotts Valley, California, Borland subsequently relocated its headquarters first to Cupertino, California and later to Austin, Texas. In 2009, it became a subsidiary of the UK-based Micro Focus International plc. By 2023, the Canadian enterprise OpenText acquired Micro Focus, incorporating Borland’s suite of products into its application delivery management segment.

The 1980s: Origins

In August 1981, Danish entrepreneurs Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, and Mogens Glad founded Borland Ltd., aiming to produce software such as Word Index for the CP/M platform. To gain entry into the U.S. market, they allied with Philippe Kahn, who assumed the roles of chairman, president, and CEO of Borland Inc. from its establishment in 1983 until 1995.

Initially called MIT (Market In Time), the company later adopted the "Borland" name after acquiring it from a bankrupt Irish customer. Early equity holders included Jensen with 250,000 shares, Henriksen holding 160,000, Glad owning 100,000, and Kahn possessing 80,000 shares.

Borland International, Inc. period

Borland’s signature offering was Turbo Pascal (1983), created by Anders Hejlsberg before he joined the company. In 1984, Borland introduced Sidekick, one of the pioneering MS-DOS utilities. By the mid-1980s, Borland exhibited alongside IBM and AT&T at prominent industry gatherings and earned acclaim for Turbo Pascal’s influence on the market.

The firm broadened its portfolio with products like SuperKey and Lightning while sustaining software development operations in Denmark and later in London. The board featured Kahn along with executives Tim Berry, John Nash, and David Heller. Borland went public on London’s Unlisted Securities Market in 1986 with Schroders leading the underwriting; subsequent U.S. initial public offerings occurred in 1989 and 1991 with Goldman Sachs and Lazard respectively.

In 1985, Borland acquired Analytica along with its Reflex database software, establishing itself as one of the "Big Four" PC software companies alongside Ashton-Tate, Lotus Development, and Microsoft. Prominent engineers such as Brad Silverberg and Adam Bosworth were part of the team before moving on to Microsoft.

The acquisition of Wizard Systems in 1987 introduced Turbo C to Borland’s lineup but also led to a division with Jensen’s group who formed Jensen & Partners International (later known as TopSpeed), developers of compilers foundational to Clarion’s 4GL tools.

For fiscal year 1987, Borland reported revenues of $29.2 million and pretax earnings of $4.7 million as it positioned itself as a direct competitor to Lotus and Ashton-Tate. The purchase of Ansa-Software added Paradox database technology and brought CTO Richard Schwartz into the company.

In 1989, Borland launched Quattro Pro spreadsheet software but encountered legal challenges from Lotus Development concerning copyright infringement in Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc. This litigation underscored Borland’s dedication to open standards and developers’ rights; after appeals reaching the U.S. Supreme Court ended with a split decision, the favorable lower court ruling for Borland remained effective though it did not establish a nationwide precedent.

Borland’s licensing strategy featured a user-friendly policy permitting multiple installations provided only one copy was used at any time—offering a competitive edge in managing software intellectual property rights.

The 1990s: Growth and Transformation

In September 1991, Borland expanded its product lineup through an all-stock acquisition of Ashton-Tate, incorporating the dBASE and InterBase database systems. Yet, competition with Microsoft escalated when Microsoft introduced Microsoft Access and purchased the dBASE alternative FoxPro in 1992, offering more aggressive pricing that challenged Borland’s market position. Although Borland’s C and C++ development tools initially outsold Microsoft’s offerings early in the decade, the company eventually lost its leadership in software development tools, prompting extensive changes across its product range, finances, and organizational structure.

The merger with Ashton-Tate exposed significant internal difficulties. Ashton-Tate’s product suite was largely outdated, lacking Windows graphical user interface versions, which led to the discontinuation of most of its software lines. The expensive integration of support and development teams caused operational disruptions. At the time of acquisition, dBASE did not have a Windows-compatible version, hindering Borland’s ability to compete effectively in that segment. An internal initiative to create a Windows-based dBASE clone was abandoned by late 1992 due to technical setbacks, necessitating a fresh development effort headed by Bill Turpin.

Borland faced financial limitations that restricted marketing efforts and resource allocation for dBASE/W, leading to workforce reductions in 1993—the third layoff round within five years. By the release of dBASE for Windows, developers had largely migrated to alternatives such as Clipper and FoxBase, while Microsoft Office was gaining substantial market momentum.

Shifts in the marketplace also contributed to Borland’s challenges. During the 1980s, software purchases were predominantly driven by technical users with minimal oversight; however, by the mid-1990s, corporate executives demanded measurable ROI and standardized procurement processes. Borland struggled to realign its marketing strategies and support services to meet these evolving business requirements.

In 1993, Borland collaborated with WordPerfect to launch Borland Office for Windows—a productivity suite integrating WordPerfect word processing, Quattro Pro spreadsheet, and Paradox database—aimed at competing with Microsoft Office. This suite failed to capture significant market share. Following Novell’s acquisition of WordPerfect, Borland divested Quattro Pro and sold distribution rights for Paradox copies to Novell for $140 million in 1994. This move allowed Borland to concentrate on its core software development tools and InterBase database technology focused on client-server applications—a strategic base for future web development solutions.

Differences regarding corporate direction led founder Philippe Kahn to step down as chairman, CEO, and president in January 1995 after leading the company for 12 years; he stayed on the board until November 1996. Subsequent CEOs included Gary Wetsel (resigned 1996), interim leader William F. Miller, Whitney G. Lynn (interim president and CEO), followed by Dale Fuller and Tod Nielsen.

Under Anders Hejlsberg’s guidance, Borland introduced Delphi 1 in 1995—a rapid application development (RAD) platform representing a major product innovation.

In 1996, Borland enhanced its enterprise software portfolio by acquiring Open Environment Corporation, a Cambridge-based firm founded by John J. Donovan. Later that year, Del Yocam was appointed CEO and chairman.

In 1997, Borland sold Paradox to Corel but maintained rights to develop the core BDE. That same year, Borland purchased Visigenic for $150 million, entering the middleware market with CORBA implementations to bolster its enterprise software solutions.

Inprise Corporation period

In April 1998, Borland International, Inc. underwent a rebranding to become Inprise Corporation. This phase was marked by considerable financial setbacks and a deteriorating public reputation for the company. The new name caused some confusion, leading to the incorrect assumption that the business had shut down. In March 1999, Borland divested dBASE to KSoft, Inc., which subsequently became dBASE Inc., and later rebranded as DataBased Intelligence, Inc. in 2004.

Dale L. Fuller succeeded Yocam as interim president and CEO in 1999, officially dropping the interim designation by December 2000. Between 2000 and 2004, Keith Gottfried occupied various senior leadership positions.

A planned merger with Corel in February 2000 intended to focus on Linux-based product development; however, this was canceled due to Corel’s declining stock price and conflicting strategic goals.

In July 2000, InterBase version 6.0 was launched as open-source software.

By November 2000, Inprise revealed its intention to revert to the Borland Software Corporation name and change its Nasdaq ticker from "INPR" back to "BORL," a transition finalized in early 2001.

Borland Software Corporation period

Effective January 2, 2001, the company officially restored the Borland Software Corporation name along with the Nasdaq symbol "BORL." Under CEO Dale L. Fuller's leadership, Borland concentrated efforts on flagship products such as Delphi and introduced Kylix—a Linux-compatible edition of Delphi and C++Builder—marking its entrance into Linux integrated development environments.

Plans to spin off InterBase were abandoned amid internal disagreements; Borland ceased releasing open-source versions and shifted focus toward accelerated commercial development.

Delphi 6, released in 2001, was the first integrated development environment to support web services across all platforms.

In 2003, Borland launched C#Builder to rival Microsoft’s Visual Studio .NET. By 2005, C#Builder and Delphi editions were consolidated into Borland Developer Studio, still commonly referred to as Delphi. In late 2002, Borland acquired TogetherSoft and Starbase Corporation—companies providing design tools and configuration/requirements management solutions—and incorporated these technologies into JBuilder and Delphi products.

CEO Dale Fuller stepped down in July 2005 but continued serving on the board. Scott Arnold acted as interim CEO until Tod Nielsen assumed leadership in November 2005. Nielsen departed in January 2009 for VMware; CFO Erik Prusch then became acting CEO.

In early 2007, Borland repositioned itself around open application lifecycle management strategies and announced plans to relocate headquarters and development operations to Austin, Texas. The company maintained additional development centers in Singapore, Santa Ana (California), Prague (Czech Republic), and Linz (Austria).

On May 6, 2009, Micro Focus agreed to acquire Borland for $75 million. Shareholders approved the $1.50 per share offer on July 22, with the acquisition completed later that month. At that time, Borland employed roughly 750 personnel.

After Micro Focus merged with Attachmate Group in November 2014—a process finalized in April 2015—Borland’s product lines were absorbed into Micro Focus’s consolidated business framework.

Subsidiaries

Leaders: Acquired in October 2005 to incorporate its IT management and governance suite, Tempo, into Borland’s offerings.
CodeGear: On February 8, 2006, Borland divested its integrated development environment division—including Delphi, JBuilder, and InterBase—while simultaneously acquiring Segue Software to emphasize application lifecycle management (ALM). In March of that year, Borland purchased Gauntlet Systems, experts in software quality assurance and security testing. By November 2006, the developer tools division was spun off as a wholly owned subsidiary named CodeGear, overseeing four IDE product lines. On May 7, 2008, Borland sold CodeGear to Embarcadero Technologies for approximately , plus retention of certain accounts receivable balances.

Recent

Through the acquisition of Segue Software, Borland incorporated products such as Silk Central, Silk Performer, and Silk Test into its product lineup. The Silk suite originally debuted in 1997. Additional significant offerings include:

Unreleased software

Turbo Modula-2: Subsequently marketed by TopSpeed under the name TopSpeed Modula-2.

Marketing

CB Magazine: This was Borland Japan’s official periodical, republished on April 3, 1997.

Transition to Inprise Corporation

After changing its name from Borland International, Inc. to Inprise Corporation, the company redirected its efforts toward enterprise application development. The new name, crafted by Lexicon Branding, was designed to represent "integrating the enterprise." This rebranding supported the strategy of uniting Borland’s principal tools—Delphi, C++Builder, and JBuilder—with enterprise software solutions like Visigenic’s CORBA products (Visibroker for C++ and Java) and the Application Server.

Frank Borland

Introduced in 1984 during the Borland International period, Frank Borland served as a mascot featured in promotional materials and manuals for products such as Borland Sidekick 1.0 and Turbo Tutor for Turbo Pascal, along with Borland JBuilder 2. Following Micro Focus plc’s acquisition of Borland Software Corporation, True Agency Limited developed a live-action version of Frank Borland accompanied by an introductory video, enhancing brand recognition and market engagement.

General references

External links