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From: Al Christians <achrist@easystreet.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Death by analogy Part 2 (was Re: is ada dead?)
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 14:10:28 -0700
Organization: Public Property Software
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Ed Falis wrote:
> 
> By the way, Al, I don't remember selling any 6-digit development 
> systems in the 16 years I was with Alsys/Thomson/Aonix.
> Maybe the big R got away with it, but I don't think anyone else did, 
> and few tried.
> 

It is not easy to speak from authority on this, since prices are not
on-line to reference.  And I don't want to ask about price and be a
nuisance when I know as a rambling and scrambling 1-man consultancy I
can't afford this stuff, anyhow, and the vendors are so nice to make 
possible freely available versions. I have paid for four Ada compilers 
in my time, from four different vendors, and none of them was over 
$2,000.  But it has happened some times in the past when I pointed out 
some problems with the freely available versions of some Ada products 
here on CLA, figuring that CLA is where there are the most users and I 
might get some help,  that a response came back from vendor that  if I 
was a supported customer instead of a 
taker-advantage-of-the-free-goodies-when-I'm-not-even-a-studenter
that the problems would be no problems.  My natural response to such 
messages is, "OK, how much would it cost to get this fixed?", and I have
let that response, however impertinent, issue forth from time to time.  
Then I've got to talk to sales, and it's hard even to get pre-qualified 
to talk to sales.  But the prices I have been exposed to over the years 
run to the order of $1,000 per seat per month and the debugger is extra, 
I think, and then there are these  minimums of six seats (last I heard, 
but I try to avoid hearing, as I said above), and when I start adding it 
all up and multiplying by the duration of the typical project, I'm into 
multiple sheets of paper and six-figures more or less, plus or minus. 

I'm not on CLA to argue.  I don't like to argue.  I don't want to argue.
If anyone doesn't like this kind of idle babbling, they can pre-empt
any argument by publishing a price list and posting a url.  I'm not 
typing about anyone in particular.  Please have mercy. I'm just trying
to explain myself to Ed, not provoke anything, or criticize anyone's
business model. You've got mouths to feed just as I do.  Do it however
you please. TIA for your indulgence. 


Al