From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 10.182.81.37 with SMTP id w5mr29467692obx.29.1414951963229; Sun, 02 Nov 2014 10:12:43 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 10.140.17.69 with SMTP id 63mr2612qgc.10.1414951963200; Sun, 02 Nov 2014 10:12:43 -0800 (PST) Path: border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.glorb.com!h15no4240699igd.0!news-out.google.com!u5ni19qab.1!nntp.google.com!i13no771289qae.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2014 10:12:43 -0800 (PST) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=50.138.108.48; posting-account=yiWntAoAAAC1KqC_shmxJYv07B9l6LNU NNTP-Posting-Host: 50.138.108.48 User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <0bb9ecbf-fa17-4448-9594-0a170822a7ff@googlegroups.com> Subject: The last rant before the next push (off the edge) of a rambling fool From: David Botton Injection-Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 18:12:43 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: number.nntp.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:190285 Date: 2014-11-02T10:12:43-08:00 List-Id: I am making a lot of noise and while I think most people understand my posi= tion on AdaCore and GNAT, I think some may misunderstand it. Since I am goi= ng to put work in to enlist others / and try myself to produce and clearly = push to distribute publicly, packages of GNAT for _Professional_ non-safety= critical Application use. I want it to be clear my intentions are Ada advo= cacy and not AdaCore as the adversary. I want them to _profit_ as much as I= want _everyone else_ too from Ada.=20 AdaCore's continued decision through the years to support free software (as= in Stallman free) makes them one of my favorite companies on the planet th= row in that they are doing it by building and maintaining the only free sof= tware compiler for Ada makes them a hero to me. Most of us growing up become adults when we learn to forgive our parents fo= r being human, when we realize that Superman sometimes does stupid things, = cause well he is almost human (I don't want to be around him when he is dru= nk!). We learn that heroes are not gods and they do the same stupid things = we do. For those of us in the US we want and enjoy heroes, we dream of being heroe= s, it motivates us and is part of our psyche, "you can even be the presiden= t little Johny!" Other cultures (I was shocked to learn growing up) despise= heroes and if every "cowboy" was just a farmer they would be more comforta= ble with that and all would be good in the universe. Anyways... My point is that, sometimes a hero makes mistakes (even if it= is only in your eyes) and even does something hurtful (unwittingly usually= ) you don't throw them away if you are an adult. You understand them and de= al with it. I lost years of work, money and dreams when AdaCore decided to create stumb= ling blocks to have access to easily used unencumbered free compilers and r= untimes. I didn't shout or complain, I just walked away. I feel that no one= has the obligation to produce free software (even though ethically they sh= ould for code outside the core IP) and all the more so no one putting in th= eir hard work _has_ to allow others to produce non-free software, i.e. AdaC= ore even in my opinion has no "obligation" to help Ada or the Ada community= . There is a win win for them, time will tell if they open to it or are wil= ling to discuss it. They could easily be at the forefront of expanding Ada'= s market. Now I think it is short sighted and foolish business, you take a language w= ith a small user base and make it even smaller, upset the few people that c= are, discourage anyone from considering it for their new projects outside o= f those with huge budgets or academics (worst by convincing everyone the "f= ree" compiler is a toy). Clearly there is a lack of focus not seeing that y= our product is not the compiler but the services you provide, etc. What is,= is. This will likely be the last post, at least I'll try, to mention AdaCore's = black spot on the good reputation they have else-wise, their support is top= notch, the work is professional, their benevolence in returning to the com= munity at least through the FSF their modifications to GNAT and the runtime= , etc. are all amazing and better than most. I just want it to be _clear_, = my interest in the coming efforts associated with Gnoga, however they turn = out, for _ professional_ free as in Stallman and unencumbered with a GPL vi= rus toolset for desktops (as I've said in theory I actually don't have a ma= jor issue with the GPL virus but on my "tools", my language and its base ru= n time... That is like tivoization to developers.) David Botton BTW, who am I that it should matter what I think, no one really. I am just = some whiny baby who enjoys using Ada for user land applications and wants o= thers to share in its benefits and figured he would give one more chance to= make his old dream of quality programming tools with freedom for the freel= ance programmers.