I use Delphi XE2 and Lazarus 1.6 daily and I now prefer Lazarus due to a variety of reasons.
The main reason is that there are no more grey areas of my code, if something doesn't work, the documentation is missing or doesn't work the way I like, then right-click find the declaration and look at it or change it. This includes the IDE. For someone used to GPL it is no big thing but as a Delphi Programmer it is close to magic.
Portability is awesome. Being able to write your program in Lazarus Windows and then open it in Lazarus in Ubuntu and it just runs is amazing the first time you see it as a Delphi programmer.
The hardest part is migrating when you have third party components. Unless you can get the source code or a free pascal version you're stuck. I have an 85K line wine management system written in Delphi but it uses a lot of third party components so it is never going to just open and re-compile, however I have gone through changing a touchscreen module and it looks and feels the same except it also works in Linux!
Lastly I tend to agree, Delphi was badly mismanaged. For example I had to re-install XE2 on my new Windows 10 PC and I had to go through the most horrible install process getting it activated as it took 3 goes and required emails to support to prove I paid for it, the Official Delphi Forums are just about dead and there is still no free version which means nobody is ever going to learn it.
Note that I have not tried the most recent Delphi versions, but Lazarus 1.6 out of the box is much more stable than Delphi XE2.
The mismanagement debate is almost a separate topic!
There was massive pressure in the 2000's to convert to .NET and C# from corporate managers, auditors and customers, I never understood how this became such a force but In 2005 it was intense to the point of paranoia and a lot of my colleagues converted (Delphi 8 sealed the deal in most cases). Needless to say most are now very happy with C#. if I had stayed an employee and not gone independent at the time it would have happened to me.
As of now I am very happy with my decision to stay with Pascal, Delphi XE2 compiles my legacy code fine even with Windows 10 and All new developments are in Lazarus giving me the ability to support Linux/BSD and ARM processors which more customers are coming to appreciate.
The main reason is that there are no more grey areas of my code, if something doesn't work, the documentation is missing or doesn't work the way I like, then right-click find the declaration and look at it or change it. This includes the IDE. For someone used to GPL it is no big thing but as a Delphi Programmer it is close to magic.
Portability is awesome. Being able to write your program in Lazarus Windows and then open it in Lazarus in Ubuntu and it just runs is amazing the first time you see it as a Delphi programmer.
The hardest part is migrating when you have third party components. Unless you can get the source code or a free pascal version you're stuck. I have an 85K line wine management system written in Delphi but it uses a lot of third party components so it is never going to just open and re-compile, however I have gone through changing a touchscreen module and it looks and feels the same except it also works in Linux!
Lastly I tend to agree, Delphi was badly mismanaged. For example I had to re-install XE2 on my new Windows 10 PC and I had to go through the most horrible install process getting it activated as it took 3 goes and required emails to support to prove I paid for it, the Official Delphi Forums are just about dead and there is still no free version which means nobody is ever going to learn it.
Note that I have not tried the most recent Delphi versions, but Lazarus 1.6 out of the box is much more stable than Delphi XE2.