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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1116ece181be1aea X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-09-13 12:17:00 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!sccrnsc04.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F636D19.3000509@attbi.com> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is the Writing on the Wall for Ada? References: <9keolvs9tjbbbuv1ndnsr69af7mtddemhk@4ax.com> <3F5F1ADB.1070008@noplace.com> <3F5F84C4.70902@attbi.com> <3F606BFA.7020407@noplace.com> <3F607DC5.5070408@attbi.com> <3F61BE5F.2010204@noplace.com> <3F61F94A.40404@attbi.com> <3F630CB3.8020204@noplace.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.139.183 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: sccrnsc04 1063480619 24.34.139.183 (Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:16:59 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:16:59 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:16:59 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:42458 Date: 2003-09-13T19:16:59+00:00 List-Id: Marin David Condic wrote: > Oh sure. Businesses have to adapt to the market. I don't think that was > my point. My point was that the local pizzaria didn't need to dedicate > 10% of its budget trying to develop a "better" pizza. They may spend > some of their budget on market research, advertising, etc., trying to > determine how to better serve their customers, but that's different than > what most people mean by "R&D". Possibly there *is* some "R&D" - they > maybe from time to time try some new vendor's sausage or cheese to see > if they can get better flavor at a lower price, etc., but I'd suspect > that this is *really* small in terms of their budget. So the point is > that not all businesses have to invest heavily in R&D in order to insure > long-term survival. Its not the "Magic Wand" that us techies would like > to think it is. Of course, my point was that if a company is too "conservative" they will find themselves out of business someday. On the other hand, sometimes change is not good. (I'd use New Coke as an example, except that when Coca Cola listened to their customers and switched back to the old formula, they gained marketshare. ;-) So our hypothetical pizzeria might spend a few hundred dollars a year on new ingredients, ingrediants from new suppliers, etc. (And all the pizzas made for research purposes may be eaten by the staff.) But then it may be relocating to a new site, or refurnishing, or an advertising campaign, or any of a dozen other possibilities that results in a temporary loss. As long as it helps keep long term cash flow positive, not a problem. -- Robert I. Eachus "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac, President of France "As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh