Re: Ichbiah's letter to Anderson: Here it is

[sampson@cod.nosc.mil (Charles H. Sampson)]

In article <SRCTRAN.93Apr26204948@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory
 Aharonian) writes:
>
[Words about the lack of Ada marketing by Ada vendors, including a
 response by Tucker Taft that Ada 9X will be marketed.]

>This is still an unacceptable response from people troughing tax dollars.
> ...
>     Much like IBM has continually refused to include Ada in its commercial
>product line advertising and marketing, Intermetrics refusal to advertise
>its Ada product and services says much more about their true beliefs about
>Ada than the endless public posturing.  Stop taking tax dollars to profess
>your love for Ada and do whatever you want.

     Greg makes enough valid points that I continue to read his posts,
repetitious though they may be, but this is too much.

     Companies that are "troughing tax dollars" do so on contract.  In
almost all cases these contracts have been won through a competitive bid-
ding process.  (That the process is inherently wasteful and often unfair is
an interesting story, but not particularly pertinent to Ada.)  Those con-
tracts spell out the contractors' obligation.  I doubt that any Ada-related
DoD contract has ever required the contractor to shill for the Ada lan-
guage.  Certainly the ones I've been involved with do not.

     I'm willing to listen to the argument that failure to promote Ada is
short-sighted on the part of Ada vendors, although I don't consider that a
settled issue.  However, since the government itself has no right to demand
that they spend any of their profits on promoting Ada, I have no idea why
Greg has appointed himself to this role.

                                   Charlie