From: Marin David Condic <condicma@bogon.pwfl.com>
Subject: Re: SGI GNAT Question? (Long)
Date: 1999/03/08
Date: 1999-03-08T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <36E44C4E.C0C7E548@pwfl.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 7bov12$r8o$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com
dennison@telepath.com wrote:
>
> The implication in that attitude is that publicly released OpenSource
> software is unsuitable, even dangerous for use in a production environment.
> It seems to me that this is antithetical to the evolving vision of OpenSource
> software. The power in an OpenSource product is in the userbase, not the
> company behind it. Doing anything to discourage use of the software by
> prospective users is tantamount to slitting your own throat.
>
Actually, I think it is a very clever marketing strategy and one in
which both the supplier and the end user win. Think about it in this
light: 15 years ago, if you wanted to have an Ada compiler, you had to
shell out some serious cash and what you got was pretty crappy stuff.
This put Ada beyond the hobbyist, student, small start-up venture,
corporate hacker/developer (someone who may want to use it for
non-critical software, but can't persuade his boss to buy it for him.)
and others for whom the price was not practical. As a result, Ada
languished & never got the audience it deserved. Even its fans were
discouraged from using it. Did this help the compiler vendor? Did it
help the end user? I think everybody wins with the OpenSource model -
even if there are risks.
As to a public release being "unsuitable" for development - well if I
was building embedded engine controls with the compiler or some other
mission critical software or even some internal tools the success of
which were critical to the business, I'd buy the support because I need
the risk reduction. Cost of failure far exceeds cost of the support. So
I couldn't hardly fault someone at ACT for saying "caveat emptor" and
not recommending GNAT-sans-support for critical projects. The question
is how much risk are you willing to take and if you run into a bug that
halts your efforts are you willing to say "well, that's the chance I
took..."? I doubt warning somebody of this fact would hurt the product
any more than when someone is selling you fire insurance for your house.
Yes, once in a while they burn down and the loss is horendous if you
don't have insurance - but that doesn't hurt the home sales market much.
MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***
"Don't say yes until I finish talking."
-- Darryl F. Zanuck
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-03-08 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 46+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1999-03-02 0:00 SGI GNAT Question? (Long) Paul Colvert
1999-03-02 0:00 ` David C. Hoos, Sr.
1999-03-02 0:00 ` GNAT discussions should be here as well kvisko
1999-03-02 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-03-02 0:00 ` Samuel Mize
1999-03-02 0:00 ` Mike Silva
1999-03-02 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-02 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-02 0:00 ` SGI GNAT Question? (Long) dewar
1999-03-03 0:00 ` Paul Colvert
1999-03-03 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-04 0:00 ` SpamSpamSpam
1999-03-04 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-04 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-05 0:00 ` SpamSpamSpam
1999-03-05 0:00 ` GNAT Field Test scope (was SGI GNAT Question) Larry Kilgallen
1999-03-05 0:00 ` SGI GNAT Question? (Long) dennison
1999-03-05 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-07 0:00 ` root
1999-03-07 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-08 0:00 ` Marin David Condic [this message]
1999-03-05 0:00 ` bourguet
1999-03-05 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-05 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-05 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-05 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-05 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-07 0:00 ` root
1999-03-07 0:00 ` David Botton
1999-03-07 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-07 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-08 0:00 ` root
1999-03-09 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-10 0:00 ` SpamSpamSpam
1999-03-10 0:00 ` Chris Morgan
1999-03-10 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-10 0:00 ` Chris Morgan
1999-03-10 0:00 ` dewar
1999-03-10 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-09 0:00 ` Some GNAT history (was Re: SGI GNAT Question? (Long)) dewar
1999-03-09 0:00 ` Tom Moran
1999-03-09 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-09 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-03-11 0:00 ` Arthur Evans Jr
1999-03-11 0:00 ` dennison
1999-03-02 0:00 ` SGI GNAT Question? (Long) Gautier
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