You can get software assurance and pay only 20% for "upgrading" this each year, so the upgrade can be very low but the people don't know much about this... Also you get free each new version under this contract. A lot of people do this and get now for free Delphi 8.

A missing point in cost is that a version of Delphi (i talk about delphi because is the only i know of borland) is valuable and do the job for more time than a MS tool, mainly because a)Delphi ship the code of VCL b) Have a good real toolset, eliminating pay for thirdy party (a normal requeriment in ms tools, except vfp maybe) c) because a) if is necesary thiryparty is possible get very cheap or free version, with sourcecode too d) Borland not trash all and reinvent the wheel again each 1-2 years (you know that next mayor OS upgrade meaning a BIG impact in development???), so is VERY normal that a developer-company skip 1-2 upgrades simply becasue the tool WORK, and can be adapted for new technology buzz very quickly (for example, VS.NET 2000 is deprecated, next VS deprecated VS 2003 because new things) this upgrade by force cicle (yes by force if you want leverage the plataform) cost much to enterprise than buy a cheap but very recicled that is only a thing in package...

After 7 years using MS tools, and 2 years using .NET and never see a real advantage in cost, in fact cost us so much, requiere more time building (for example i can build a full 3-tier app in 3 months but in a ms tools take 2+ years, and yes, i have the reputation of be one of the best guys using this tools and really my expertise in delphi is medium only), not only for my or the companys i work but for clients: MS Tools requiere not only upgrading Tools but OS&Explorer&Machines... In the botton line, Delphi cost less for my and for my clients (and if a want a client that need be in the "buzz" then i can too;)