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From: hathawa2@marshall.edu (Mark S. Hathaway)
Subject: Re: Where's Aetech?
Date: 1995/03/29
Message-ID: <1995Mar29.120713@hobbit>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 100540731
references: <1995Mar23.165030.643@nosc.mil> <3kvksa$se8@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>
 <SRCTRAN.95Mar26113150@world.std.com>
organization: Marshall University
newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1995-03-29T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

> In article <SRCTRAN.95Mar26113150@world.std.com>,
> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) writes:

>> From: dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM (David Weller)

>> Dare we speculate that one each retired Air Force officer failed to
>> move with the market, and summarily self-destructed his company by
>> pursuing legal channels to terminate the GNAT program?  We can only
>> hope! :-)

>     Given that Jim Thomes, the ex-Air Force officer in question, and Aetech,
> was one of the few BUSINESSES spending money to actually advertise Ada in
> print, and other things to promote Ada outside the Mandated world, I think
> your attitude toward him stinks, and is why Ada as a business is in so much
> trouble.  Aetech, and many other Ada startups now forgotten (look through
> the vendor lists from the late 1980's Tri-Adas), all were treated atrociously
> by the Mandated world, mainly by contradictory Defense procurement regulations
> that suffocated Ada startups, and by socialists in the DoD giving the big Ada
> bucks to liars like IBM who ditched the language as soon as the pork tried up.
> As an investment, the STARS program has been a disaster, money better used to
> seed an Ada industry instead of filling the pension plans of big, fat DoD
> contractors.

> ...

>      And that anyone is happy that one of the side-effects of GNAT was to
> drive one of the few Ada businesses into the ground is very sad, the type
> of attitude that drives software entrepreneurs into the arms of other
> languages.
> 
> Greg Aharonian

I remember hearing, some time ago, of a quote from Ringo Starr
(of Beatles fame).  You might find it appropriate in regard to
"mandated" Ada.  I'll paraphrase to avoid misquoting.

'Everything the government touches turns to shit.'

It's kind of a Midas touch -- in reverse.  :-)


Mark S. Hathaway       <hathawa2@marshall.edu>