Re: Clause "with and use"

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

Ever heard of hiding a lamp under a bushel basket? You can have the 
greatest technology in the world, but if you can't effectively 
*communicate* that to a wide number of people how are they going to know 
about it or be inspired to try it out? Ada has been one public-relations 
disaster after another from its inception. People felt it was being 
rammed down their throats. They had the perception it was slow, buggy 
and way too expensive. They didn't think it addressed their problems and 
that it would not work. We can stand here all day and say "That's not 
true!!!" but effectively, that message did not get sent to the wide 
range of potential users. Marketing, advertising and sales might have 
helped that a lot.

Even more recently, we had a major language revision come out in 1995 - 
pretty close to the time that Sun was starting to hawk Java. Java had 
merits. Sun wanted to make sure the world knew about those merits. 
(Please don't deny that Java had some merits - it *was* an improvement 
over other things and provided capabilities not found with other 
languages - like portable executables across the net and a large 
library.) Sun made sure that there were ads in magazines, radio spots, 
interviews and "Puff Pieces" on various radio shows (I recall hearing 
one on NPR & I think there were probably others). Ada95 had merits - 
like high integrity, portability and object oriented programming. What 
did you hear about it anywhere except within the confines of places 
frequented by the already-converted? Was there any publicity? Any hype? 
Any stories about how wonderful it was getting planted in the press?

So we've got another language revision coming out. The problem is it is 
more of an "incremental" revision - relatively minor enhancements to the 
language rather than anything new and big with respect to capabilities. 
If Ada had some revolutionary new thing to offer, it might have 
something to hype within the media. (Like if it had a library that went 
beyond what people traditionally expect?) If it had something *new* to 
hype that might interest the general media, and it had someone running 
an advertizing campaign, chances are, it could get some interest and 
stories done about it. If it had some vision for the future - rather 
than essentially some "Me Too!!!" kinds of capabilities - it might get 
some good press. If it had a large institutional backer, it might have 
some money to place some ads in journals and get the word out that Ada 
is cool.

People don't conduct scientific studies to find out what is the best 
technology to apply when it comes to tools. They buy the tools based on 
what they have heard about and what seems to address their problems the 
best. That's just human nature. Who goes to the hardware store to buy a 
set of socket wrenches and  conducts a study on the strengths and 
weaknesses of every different brand available at every store? Nobody. 
You find a brand that has a good reputation, is available at a 
reasonable cost and looks like it meets your needs. People buy 
"Craftsman" or "Snap-On" because they are good quality, meet the needs 
and are generally available at a reasonable price. Maybe there's "Fred's 
Hand Tools" out there with *superior* products - but who ever heard of 
them to even know about investigating them?

That's why all that marketing, sales and advertising is really important 
for Ada. Perhaps instead of trying to come up with an all-volunteer, 
freebie library, we should have an all-volunteer, freebie advertising 
blitz? :-)

MDC


Vinzent 'Gadget' Hoefler wrote:
> 
> Yes. I agree with you here. But that is what scares me a little bit.
> Why do you need a bigger budget if you already have the better
> product?
> 


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Marin David Condic
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