From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,984e922902f4f4ee X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Tom Moran Subject: Re: Can Ada by popularized faster ? Date: 1997/10/16 Message-ID: <34463BDA.3B11@bix.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 281405632 References: <343D1DD8.B60A668A@kaiwan.com> <343DF700.87754946@sd.aonix.com> <343EA866.5D10@flinet.com> Organization: InterNex Information Services 1-800-595-3333 Reply-To: TMoran@bix.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-10-16T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: >Think of why C got so popular: The language itself wasn't the issue - it >was all the other things that were bundled around it. The Unix OS, Lots Thinking about the development and spreading of Unix/C in particular, and Netscape and Java to some extent, I draw these lessons: Technical: Create a product that has at least some improvements over the competition that you can hang your hat on. But it can have deficiencies too - ignore them. Economics: Substantially underprice your competition, at least until you've crushed him. Giving away your product when your competition charges thousands is best. Note that the price of the competitive product is zero to any potential customer who already has it. You must compete against something that will actually cost him money. Sociology: Get lots of (unpaid) folks working for you in R&D and sales. E.g. get grad students or moonlighting programmers to make add-ons that add value to your product. As a by-product, they will encourage the use of whatever they are expert in - namely your product. Psychology: Financial motivation of buyers, developers, and salesman, as above, is necessary, but psychology is what will really put them 'over the top'. Use such things as aesthetic, moral, or in-group arguments, ie, your product is more 'elegant', the competition is a nasty giant corporation (or Bill Gates), people who don't see the light are dinosaurs, etc. Financing: Selling something to a large market is a big job and, especially with 'crush the competition' pricing, will take a long to time return the investment. Try to get someone else - telephone users, a university, the government, or a corporation or individual with very deep pockets, to finance the project.