Re: Death by analogy Part 2 (was Re: is ada dead?)

[Ed Falis <efalis@mediaone.net>]

Al Christians wrote:

>
> 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.

Al, I understand your point.  Note that I currently work for that vendor,
but I'm speaking for myself, from being in this business a long time.  It's
been rough times for all of us aficionados of the language, regardless of
what our involvement has been.  The vendor I used to work for started out
with the premise of inexpensive Ada, widely-available (after all, it was
started by the language designer), and we made a lot of mistakes along the
way.  Even our successes rarely paid off.  But excepting R&R and to an
extent Meridian, we consistently tried to get Ada to a widespread basis
with reasonable cost more than anyone else.  And it didn't fit the business
context.  The customers we dealt with at that other company wanted
commodity pricing and defense-contractor level support.  There was no way
to deliver both, and I don't think there is now.  Microsoft certainly
doesn't, and neither do any of the other vendors for development products
in the $100 to $600 range.  For us Ada guys, there was the additional
problem of general lack of broader market interest, despite sinking a lot
of money into advertizing and so on.

So, I don't know what the answer is to your dilemma (and you're not the
only person with it).  But what ACT offers in terms of support reflects the
cost to provide it, and I think it also reflects the value rendered in
return.

You've probably used the Visual Studios, and Sun JDK's, and Borland
products.  They're not perfect, and often the quality is well below e.g.
GNAT or ObjectAda.  And just as often, the option for any kind of real
support doesn't exist.  Or if it does, it's part of a "larger" deal with a
concomitant ongoing price tag.  You can't get blood out of stone.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding a bit combative - it's not my intention, but
I guess a fair part of my career has been tied to these issues.  I'm often
not so pleased looking back.

- Ed