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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bc1361a952ec75ca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-09-09 13:32:28 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Richard Riehle Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Progress on AdaOS Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 13:34:29 -0700 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3B9BD255.81113BD9@adaworks.com> References: <9IFe7.12813$6R6.1221214@news1.cableinet.net> <9lghqu$ac6$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7C3293.76F49097@home.com> <9lhefg$lgd$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7D47F1.25D6FC78@boeing.com> <5ee5b646.0108171856.18631c4c@posting.google.com> <3B7F624B.7294D24F@acm.org> <9lr6je$5hj$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9ltoi7$4is$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B82789B.8D195045@home.com> <9ltuo8$70n$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B829450.879B0396@home.com> <9mdhr7$qdo$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9mekkt$pij$1@melchior.enst.fr> <9mg5vi$r16$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B8CA58B.30405@rfc1149.net> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 9e.fc.cd.9d Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 9 Sep 2001 20:31:40 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:12957 Date: 2001-09-09T20:31:40+00:00 List-Id: Samuel Tardieu wrote: > You need to *trust* your OS. That's why I love when it is > small. If a particular package fails to suit my needs or is > buggy, I just replace it. If a part of the OS fails to suit > my needs or is buggy, either I am stuck with it or it is > unpractical to use a replacement. Overheard at Izzy's Bagel Shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto: Paraphrased: "I consider my decision to stop using Microsoft products whenever possible to be an act of patriotism." There are many reasons why people choose operating systems. Most choose Microsoft because it is the path of least resistance not because it is the best product. We all know it is not the best product. However, few will choose a different operating system unless they have some passion for doing so. The person overheard at Izzy's had evidently just completed at purchase at the nearby Apple dealer across the street. In his view, Microsoft has become the equivalent of an "evil empire" and a danger to the entire national security, not to mention the economy. He believes in his viewpoint enough to go against the dominant trend. I am old enough to remember when the phrase, "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM," was the near equivalent of revealed truth. Now, we can say, "Nobody ever got fired for choosing Microsoft." Just as IBM lost its dominance through a series of hubris-induced blunders, so too Microsoft, with its arrogance toward the consumers that depend on its products, can eventually implode unless it someday begins to understand that consumers want a wider range of choices, more reliable products, and a better commitment to service, none of which seem forthcoming in current or projected Microsoft product offerings. An AdaOS, if one is to be developed, needs to focus on a specific marketplace. One of Ada's particular strengths is in the real-time and embedded systems marketplace. The language already is a model for consistency and continuity that could evolve into a well-formed operating system for that market segment. The difficulty will be getting compiler publishers to agree on the creation of such a product. Each Ada compiler publisher prides itself on the special qualities of of its RTE, and this is as it should be. If someone were to define a common set of properties for an embedded, concurrent, real-time OS that could be written in Ada, support Ada, guarantee efficiency and reliability, that OS would not have to compete against Microsoft or Linux or whatever. In some ways, I find myself in agreement with the man who claimed he was doing a patriotic service by abandoning Microsoft products. I find it increasingly scary that our DoD organizations are becoming dependent on this single source for software. In fact, Microsoft has now become the one organization, among all others, in which there is no need for a competing bid in the purchase of software products. Novell has no voice. Linux publishers have no voice. BeOS, an excellent design, has no voice. Apple's voice has long ago been silenced in most DoD organizations. Perhaps the man in Izzy's was right. Perhaps a decision to dump Microsoft products in favor of some equally effective alternative really is an act of patriotism. I found his comment intriguing, even if it is a bit unrealistic in our current technological climate. Perhaps there is a place for an AdaOS. Richard Riehle richard@adaworks.com