Ada 95 for Windows is here!

Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Dave Wood]

We are proud to announce our first generally 
available release of ObjectAda for Windows, the 
first validated Ada 95 compiler for Windows 95 
and NT.

This first release ("Academic ObjectAda") is a true
validated compiler and environment ready for serious 
use.  It is available immediately to three types of 
users:

(a) Students and Educators can buy the product now
at little or no cost.  Contact the LEAP coordinator
at 1-800-833-0085 x244 (US) or 619-457-2700 x244.

(b) ActivAda subscribers will receive a copy 
automatically at no charge (complete distribution 
will happen over the next 2-3 weeks.)  This is
in addition to the Professional Edition which 
they will also receive.

(b) "Early Adopters" can have the product at no 
extra charge as described below:

The full product line will be available in three
packaging levels:  Personal, Professional, and 
Enterprise.  These products are now in final 
qualification.  With a normal production cycle,
we expect to begin shipping in September.

If you need to get down to serious business right
away, you can take advantage of the Early Adopter
program as follows:

1. Contact your local sales rep or call us at 
1-800-833-0042 to arrange an Early Adopter 
purchase of Personal, Professional, and 
Enterprise products.

2. We will immediately ship Academic ObjectAda
to you at no extra cost.

3. We will back-order the other products that 
you ordered and ship them to you automatically
as soon as they are available.

--------------------

For information about the full ObjectAda for
Windows product line, visit our web site at

http://www.thomsoft.com/products/ada/Ada.html

Basic questions and answers about Academic 
ObjectAda are provided below.

"How useful is Academic ObjectAda for 
professional use?"

Academic ObjectAda is perfectly suitable for 
basic production-quality Ada 95 development.  
It provides the following features:

- Validated, robust Ada 95 compiler (full
  core language)
- Annexes A, B, C, and D
- Easy-to-use integrated development environment
   - Integrated editor
   - Integrated project manager
   - Integrated debugger
   - Integrated browser
- WinDbg codeview debugger
- Win32, ODBC, and Winsock bindings
- Support for DLLs
- Support for console and Windows apps
 
This environment has been through a rigorous 
beta test period since its validation in 
December, 1995, resulting in the compilation 
of millions of lines of code and many thousands 
of hours of use at over 150 international beta
sites.
 
 
"What are the limitations of Academic ObjectAda?"
 
Of course, Academic ObjectAda is missing some 
important features that will be in the final 
professional products currently in qualification.  
These are summarized 
below:
 
The following components are not available 
in Academic ObjectAda but will be available in
the first "full" release:

- Java applet support
- GUI Builder
- OpenPack:
   - DOS Extender
   - Plot and Draw graphical libraries
   - SQL pre-compiler
   - MFC bindings
- ClearCase/ Ada integration package
- HOT_Ada interactive courseware
- A few minor elements of the IDE are disabled
- The final integrated debugger will have  
  additional functionality.
- The on-line help for Academic ObjectAda is 
  not as complete as in the final products.

The time for Ada 95 has come 'round at last.  We
invite you to get an early taste of ObjectAda.

-- Dave Wood
-- Windows Product Manager
-- Thomson Software Products
-- "ObjectAda:  The Promise of Ada Fulfilled"
-- http://www.thomsoft.com

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Robert A Duff]

In article <31F587A5.636A@thomsoft.com>, Dave Wood  <dpw@thomsoft.com> wrote:
>We are proud to announce our first generally 
>available release of ObjectAda for Windows, the 
>first validated Ada 95 compiler for Windows 95 
>and NT.

Good news.  And congrats.

Now, don't be shy, let's hear some pricing info.  Or is that considered
too crass for comp.lang.ada?  IMHO, it would be useful info, and
entirely appropriate.

>- Validated, robust Ada 95 compiler (full
>  core language)
>- Annexes A, B, C, and D

Forgive me for nitpicking, but: Annexes A and B are part of the core
language.

- Bob

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Dave Wood]

Robert A Duff wrote:
> 
> In article <31F587A5.636A@thomsoft.com>, Dave Wood  <dpw@thomsoft.com> wrote:
> >We are proud to announce our first generally
> >available release of ObjectAda for Windows, the
> >first validated Ada 95 compiler for Windows 95
> >and NT.
> 
> Good news.  And congrats.
> 
> Now, don't be shy, let's hear some pricing info.  Or is that considered
> too crass for comp.lang.ada?  IMHO, it would be useful info, and
> entirely appropriate.

Crassness is in the eye of the beholder.  :)

However, bacause of the various options, variations,
and international distribution and conversion issues,
I hesitate to state pricing here.  The internet has
provided some rapid "lessons learned" for international
companies...   

I will say that we've followed the spirit of ActivAda
in attemption to price products to meet every need
(I should say, every reasonable need), with academic,
personal, professional, and project-based packaging
and pricing.

To contact the office nearest to you, see:

http://www.thomsoft.com/Locations.html


> >- Validated, robust Ada 95 compiler (full
> >  core language)
> >- Annexes A, B, C, and D
> 
> Forgive me for nitpicking, but: Annexes A and B are part of the core
> language.

I thought it might look odd to say:

"ObjectAda includes Annexes C and D"

because no doubt a nitpicker of a different bent 
would then ask:  "What happened to A and B?"

-- Dave Wood
-- ObjectAda for Windows:  http://www.thomsoft.com

"We do Ada...
 We do Java...
 We import C code...
 But why botha?"

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Michael Feldman]

In article <320236F3.64E8@thomsoft.com>, Dave Wood  <dpw@thomsoft.com> wrote:

>I will say that we've followed the spirit of ActivAda
>in attemption to price products to meet every need
>(I should say, every reasonable need), with academic,
>personal, professional, and project-based packaging
>and pricing.

The academic prices are on the web (authorized by Thomson) at
http://www.acm.org/sigada/education.

Click on "compilers and tools for education".

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) 
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/faculty/mfeldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Pork is all that money the government gives the other guys.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWW: http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/ or http://info.acm.org/sigada/education
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Tom Moran]

I was unable to find the academic prices at www.acmorg.sigada.edu -
where exactly should one look?

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Michael Feldman]

In article <3203CB31.721@bix.com>, Tom Moran  <tmoran@bix.com> wrote:
>I was unable to find the academic prices at www.acmorg.sigada.edu -
>where exactly should one look?

(1) Is the URL right? It's http://www.acm.org/sigada/education

(2) Once you get to that page, click on "compilers and tools for
    education." You'll see a hot spot there for Thomson LEAP.

Mike Feldman

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Chris Morgan]

In article <320236F3.64E8@thomsoft.com> Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> writes:

   However, bacause of the various options, variations,
   and international distribution and conversion issues,
   I hesitate to state pricing here.  The internet has
   provided some rapid "lessons learned" for international
   companies...   

That wouldn't be the "Activada is available for $99" posting you made
that you're referring to would it? :-)

I thought the lesson learnt was that your sales went up five-fold even
though you caused some consternation to your bosses.

Anyway, more power to your elbow for getting superb products like this
out and visible. I'm going to tell all my colleagues.

Chris

chris.morgan@baesema.co.uk

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Dave Wood]

Chris Morgan wrote:
> 
> In article <320236F3.64E8@thomsoft.com> Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> writes:
> 
>    However, bacause of the various options, variations,
>    and international distribution and conversion issues,
>    I hesitate to state pricing here.  The internet has
>    provided some rapid "lessons learned" for international
>    companies...
> 
> That wouldn't be the "Activada is available for $99" posting you made
> that you're referring to would it?

Modesty (nay, fear) prevents me from commenting further
on the subject.  :)
 
> I thought the lesson learnt was that your sales went up five-fold even
> though you caused some consternation to your bosses.

If I could only do this to my salary...

-- Dave Wood
-- Product Manager, ObjectAda for Windows

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Chris Morgan]

In article <32065F80.E54@thomsoft.com> Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> writes:

   Chris Morgan wrote:
   > 
   > In article <320236F3.64E8@thomsoft.com> Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> 
   > writes:
   > 
   >    However, bacause of the various options, variations,
   >    and international distribution and conversion issues,
   >    I hesitate to state pricing here.  The internet has
   >    provided some rapid "lessons learned" for international
   >    companies...
   > 
   > That wouldn't be the "Activada is available for $99" posting you made
   > that you're referring to would it?

   Modesty (nay, fear) prevents me from commenting further
   on the subject.  :)

Ok. I'll take that as a yes :-)


   > I thought the lesson learnt was that your sales went up five-fold even
   > though you caused some consternation to your bosses.

   If I could only do this to my salary...

:-)

Chris
chris.morgan@baesema.co.uk

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting)]

In article <31F587A5.636A@thomsoft.com>, Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> writes:
> We are proud to announce our first generally 
> available release of ObjectAda for Windows, the 
> first validated Ada 95 compiler for Windows 95 
> and NT.
> 
> {stuff deleted}
> 
> 1. Contact your local sales rep or call us at 
> 1-800-833-0042 to arrange an Early Adopter 
> purchase of Personal, Professional, and 
> Enterprise products.

I don't know who my local sales rep is and two calls to the above 800 number
have gone unanswered.  Well, the machine answered and took my messages, but
nobody returned either call and the first call was nearly a week ago.

I'm hoping you're just so busy selling Ada compilers that you don't have time
for "early adopter" inquiries!  Is there another number I can try or is there
an automatic way to find out who the local sales rep is for my area?

Also, is the "Enterprise" product the same as the ActivAda/NT product?  I don't
recall the early version of ActivAda having an "Enterprise" edition.

Matt

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew S. Whiting, P.E.         | Corning Incorporated | (607) 974-6317 phone
Manager Advanced Control Systems | HP-ME-01-034         | (607) 974-6752 fax
whiting_ms@corning.com           | Corning, NY 14831    |

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[Dave Wood]

whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting) wrote:
> 
> > 1. Contact your local sales rep or call us at
> > 1-800-833-0042 to arrange an Early Adopter
> > purchase of Personal, Professional, and
> > Enterprise products.
> 
> I don't know who my local sales rep is and two calls to the above 800 number
> have gone unanswered.  Well, the machine answered and took my messages, but
> nobody returned either call and the first call was nearly a week ago.

Mea culpa, error corrected.  (By the way, does anyone know 
if there are voice mail systems written in Ada?)  

At any rate, for local contact info:

http://www.thomsoft.com/Locations.html

 
> Also, is the "Enterprise" product the same as the ActivAda/NT product?  I don't
> recall the early version of ActivAda having an "Enterprise" edition.

There is not an exact mapping of ActivAda to ObjectAda.  Whereas
different versions of ActivAda ran on different versions of Windows,
all ObjectAda for Windows products run on either Windows 95 or NT
(including the new 4.0 by the way), so the packaging distinction
is now strictly based on type of user:  academic, personal, 
professional, and enterprise (program/ project/ multi-user).

Thanks for the query - we appreciate your interest.

-- Dave Wood
-- ObjectAda for Windows:  http://www.thomsoft.com

"We do Ada...
 We do Java...
 We import C code...
 But why botha?"

Re: Ada 95 for Windows is here!

[whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting)]

In article <32023ACC.6DEA@thomsoft.com>, Dave Wood <dpw@thomsoft.com> writes:
> whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting) wrote:
>
> {stuff deleted}
>
> 
> Thanks for the query - we appreciate your interest.
> 
> -- Dave Wood
> -- ObjectAda for Windows:  http://www.thomsoft.com
> 
--
I received several calls from people at Thomson after this post.  I was quickly
directed to the appropriate sales representative and am on my way.  It appears
that the number I called went to a person who was on vacation and there was
nobody checking that machine for incoming messages.  Just wanted to let
everyone know that Thomson DID follow-up to my inquiry. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew S. Whiting, P.E.         | Corning Incorporated | (607) 974-6317 phone
Manager Advanced Control Systems | HP-ME-01-034         | (607) 974-6752 fax
whiting_ms@corning.com           | Corning, NY 14831    |