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From: Steve Quinlan <steven.quinlan@lmco.com>
Subject: A Modest Defense of ACT (though they are big boys and can take care
 of themselves)
Date: 1999/02/20
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Date: 1999-02-20T00:00:00+00:00
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I think it's quite amazing how some people seem to feel that because GNAT is
free, they can insist that ACT add or develop feature x, y or z, because "the
users want it". (ACT probably knows best what GNAT users want -- God knows they
probably have more direct contact with Ada programmers than any other company).
Such people then procede to get mightily and indignantly upset if the response
isn't a nurturing electronic hug and immediate acquiescence to their
suggestions, along with a promised release date!

As a paying customer of ACT (well, I work for a paying customer) I find they are
very responsive. But the free version is a side benefit. They probably, and
rightly, extend and enhance GNAT to provide what their paying customers need.
They just did so for us for a specific feature we wanted.   The rest of the
world benefits when that stuff becomes public.

I believe ACT is happy to listen to suggestions from anyone. Make your
suggestions, make your case to them why it would be valuable, try to enlist
others to your side to support that. ACT will consider it, in the context of
their business needs. But they make the final decision about whether to expend
their finite resources on work which their paying customers  may not be
clamoring for. And no one really has much standing to beat them up for it. How
many other  companies are giving you free Ada compilers? How many other compiler
company presidents are here every day helping out answering questions, etc. If
he didn't care about Ada and its users, he wouldn't spend so much time here
answering our stupid questions, or correcting our stupid answers to other
people's intelligent questions (OK, they're not all stupid -- a bit of
rhetorical hyperbole there.)

                          Steve Quinlan