Re: Ada9x Transition Plan (443 lines) ftp-ed from AJPO

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <1991Mar26.173818.4429@src.honeywell.com> vestal@SRC.Honeywell.COM (Steve Vestal) writes:
>
>I second this recommendation; if the RFP were done carefully, this might at
>least approximate the mythical, long-sought-after "gnu Ada."
Yeah. I wonder if an RFP is the right way to go. Should the government
fund this thing, or just facilitate? Is there a middle ground?
>
>The draft transition plan says this compilation system will be developed for
>educational use by accredited universities.  I am curious to know exactly what
>restrictions the government is contemplating.  Does educational use include
>research use, or use by other accredited educational institutions?  It would
>be nice if this were available for both educational and research use by a
>broad range of individuals and organizations.
Interesting question. I'm reading tea leaves here, but I wonder if they
meant to exclude, for example, private companies using it for in-house
training or research. "Educational purposes" generally includes academic-
type research, which is inextricably tied to upper-level teaching anyway,
especially in the computing field.

Threse restrictions are indicative of the government's floundering around
so as not to violate a "don't compete with the private sector" ideology.
Does anyone remember that the government - DARPA, if I recall - funded
the development of Berkeley Unix? At the time, universities could get
copies - including source code - virtually free (distribution fee of
about $300.). Industry didn't get into Berkeley Unix until one of its
developers, Bill Joy, finished his doctorate and founded Sun Microsystems.
And we all know the rest of that story.

If I'm not mistaken, DARPA _still_ funds Berkeley Unix development, even
though Unix is now a roaring commercial success. The government funding
_created_ the industry. In the case of Ada, provision - by whatever means -
of an EDUCATION-ORIENTED Ada system would increase the size of the pie
by producing thousands of Ada-literate college graduates.

Hey - Rational, Alsys, TeleSoft, Verdix, Tartan, Meridian! If you guys would
develop an EDUCATION-ORIENTED Ada system, you could sell it to us. But
none of you are interested. The nearest approximation is OpenAda, but it's
education-oriented only in that its price is low enough. (Well, OK, the
HyperText LRM helps too). If you don't wanna build stuff we can REALLY
use, at least get out of the way so that Uncle Sam can. Quit kvetching
about him competing with you. You don't want to develop it, or you would've
done it years ago.

Yo AJPO! Don't be so cautious. Go talk to the folks down the street at
DARPA and ask them how it worked with Unix. See if I'm right.

Mike Feldman