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=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,e5bfa021bc026369 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-01-26 18:27:08 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Personality Conflict was: why Ada is so unpopular ? Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 20:26:14 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <101bj3rleijjd90@corp.supernews.com> References: <401524D4.CBDA0658@mitre.org> <101at48fggcated@corp.supernews.com> X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4910.0300 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4869 Date: 2004-01-26T20:26:14-06:00 List-Id: "David Starner" wrote in message news:pan.2004.01.27.00.43.18.820533@email.ro... > On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 14:11:00 -0600, Randy Brukardt wrote: > > And certainly, complaining about bugs in a "free" product is > > counter-productive. You get what you pay for, and if you want bugs fixed in > > a timely manner, you need to pay (someone) for that service. Otherwise, you > > are hoping that some paying customer runs into the same problem - and there > > is no guarentee of that. > ... > There are no maintainers for the Ada part of GCC that have any motivation > to keep the Ada part of GCC working for everyone, unlike the Apple, Red > Hat and Debian maintainers who work to keep the rest of the compiler > generally usable. ACT only really cares about the compiler it sends to its > clients, and it shows. Perhaps. Economics says that you can't give the same service to free customers as you do to ones that pay money, or pretty soon you don't have any paying customers. > > And certainly, complaining about bugs in a "free" product is > > counter-productive. > > The fact is, it's not. If I find a bug in the C, C++, Eiffel, or Lisp > compilers on my system, or one of hundreds of other programs, I will get a > polite response. That doesn't mean I will get a bug fix, but I can't > afford to pay for a guaranteed bug fix, and probably won't ever. If I > can't get the same service from my Ada compiler as I do from my C > compiler, that is a valid reason to change languages. Are any of these other languages maintained by commercial companies without significant other products? Ada (the language) is built around the notion of multiple vendors competing for your business with some assurance that the language that those vendors support is similar in important ways. If your current vendor is not supporting you well enough, try a different vendor. This needn't be expensive: $800 gets you a current Janus/Ada compiler and a year's worth of support. I realize that changing compilers isn't always possible. It should be the case that vendors treat everyone with respect. But there is an awful lot of "customer abuse" going around these - some companies make a habit of it. I don't see anyone in the Ada industry anywhere near as bad as some of the mass market software companies (Intuit comes to mind). In any case, if all of this is simply a gripe about one particular person or vendor, it's relevance to Ada as a whole is pretty much nil. Certainly the Ada standard is not going to change someone's personality or business practices! Randy.