Re: Ada Pricing & Quality ?? - Vendors

[cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.]

[drivel deleted]
>    The Ada industry (if such a thing exists) should have been offering
>libraries starting in the late 1980's.  Ada83 is plenty good to be used for
>such libraries.  But what kills the Ada library business (as measured by the
>number of companies that went broke trying to do so), and Ada in general,
>is that Mandated contractors don't buy libraries - thanks to Defense
                                    ^^^
>procurement regulations and N-I-H syndromes.
 
Mr. Aharonian chooses to ignore the rationale for the DOD's regulations
because it does not square with his business profits.
 
The defense department follows a simple set of rules.
 
1. A contractor may provide a reuse library to the DOD for a fee.
2. That library becomes government property.
3. To cut costs, other contractors should be able to use that software 
   free of charge.
 
The key fact to remember: If a contractor pays for a reuse library
originally developed under DOD sponsorship, they can not charge the 
DOD for its purchase price.  This prevents someone from double-charging 
the government for software.
 
Simple and smart economics. Also why someone like businessman Aharonian
has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to DOD procurement.
Why should a contractor pay a reuse librarian like STO for government 
software when (1) they can get it for free and (2) they won't be able to
charge it against software expenditures anyway?  (Hint: add some value)
 
Lon Smithers
 
"Will C and C++ merge? Or will a new dialect,like C+,emerge from the fusion?"
Grading system courtesy of P.J.Plauger, Dr.Dobb's Journal