Re: What is the best license to use for open source software?

[David Botton <david@botton.com>]

> With Ada it is an entirely different story.  Vendors (mostly AdaCore) need revenue on the tools themselves because that is all they have for assets.  Their market is very small and not going to grow - they already have the customers who need it.

Actually, it is not that different at all. AdaCore does near zero R&D unless requested and paid for (at least in large part) directly by a customer. So the only difference is who does the actual development. With C/C++, etc. the customers themselves do the dev work in the case of Ada it is AdaCore generally being outsourced for the work to support some project and the AdaCore supporting the result for them and others interested.

AdaCore doesn't make money on the compiler (even they though are confused about what actual product they are selling sometimes), their product is support contracts, i.e. they are selling resources and talent.

> Its disappointing that Ada is locked into this niche and shows little potential to break out.

It is not "locked" in and I don't believe it has little potential to break out. If that was the case I would not have created Gnoga or continue towards my goals of opening the Ada market beyond that niche, nor would many others bother with their efforts to make Ada available with out a virus.

Since AdaCore doesn't understand how to make money beyond the "grant" model (it is a general issue with academics in business) they've done their best to force customer lock in. This has the unfortunate result of making it very hard for Ada to grow beyond their niche and harms Ada advocacy in general. In time the lack of creativity and R&D will cause an implosion, but most of us here (including myself) are not anti-AdaCore and hopefully what efforts we can make on our own for Ada despite the stumbling blocks they have laid (and yes strangely with their help as well with the FSF upstream, and while it doesn't balance their actions, it at least reduces the sting), our efforts will generate enough interest and market to keep them from imploding sooner but rather much later.


> Most believe "good enough" is just that and refuse to spend anything on something better.

Not 100% true, the issue is that speed to market today is more important than initial quality for most non-safety critical systems.

That however is Ada's greatest value, minimal additional development time for considerable improvements in quality and long term maintainability. 

However no one (yet ;) is marketing that angle since the "niche" market for AdaCore is safety critical and they already understand the need for quality and get what Spark and other Ada related products can add, and can and will pay for AdaCore's only actual product "support".

> Back to the race to the bottom...

I don't feel until you contribute time and product, "damnation" is your right... but being from the US, say what you will and me and the posy working to change things for the better despite the stumbling blocks and not just muck raking will dance on your words when things materialize for the better ;)

I challenge you to make a difference :)

David Botton