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: 103376,5cb36983754f64da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-04-12 15:36:11 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: No call for Ada (was Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 17:34:28 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <107m6cdmda7f639@corp.supernews.com> References: 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:7018 Date: 2004-04-12T17:34:28-05:00 List-Id: "Wes Groleau" wrote in message news:bLmdnfBfLunI9OXdRVn-uw@gbronline.com... ... > The numbers are wrong, irrelevant, and bogus. > The point is that we Ada fans are so far out-numbered > that (as Marin has been insisting for ages) we have to do > something really good, not try to compete on the turf that > they have _already_ captured. It's worse than that, really. If you are hoping to make money from your niche, you also have to find one that is either too small for interest by the mainstream (which is why cellphones won't work) or just plain overlooked. Plus it has to take small enough effort in order to be viable for the tiny number of participants. Because if you find a niche which fails any of these criteria, either the big players will move into it (and it rarely matters who is there first, it is who is there first with deep pockets), or it won't be large enough to provide the revenue needed to sustain it, or it simply will be too big a project and it will never get finished. There's been a number of examples of each in past Ada projects. The only way an Ada anything could be successful would be for the niche to remain overlooked long enough for Ada to be firmly entrenched. And that (of course) requires luck, as there is no way to predict whether bigger players will want to play in your niche at the outset. Randy.