The new MDI, Developer Studio-like IDE is easier to use than in previous versions. Microsoft Transaction Server is an excellent tool for managing components at run time. Nonvisual controls are difficult to build. Aggregation and delegation is a poor substitute for true inheritance. Performance, while improved, lags behind natively compiled controls.
Compiled code runs faster than ever.
There is support for true ActiveX controls as well as ActiveForms. Visual inheritance is included. Expected wizards are missing. The Object Repository is simply a structured text file. Object Pascal has a steeper learning curve than Visual Basic.