Meridian v4.1.1 ????

Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[mannion]

I am a computer science student and I am trying to locate Meridian's ADA 
Compiler and Bamp v4.1.1
This is what they are using in our lab. Any information or help locating
these programs would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Mannion
	e-mail: mannion@lainet.com

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[WLawton]

The Meridian compiler vendor has been merged with Rational.

If you contact the Rational sales department, you may be able to obtain a
copy remaining on the shelf.

Regards,

Wayne R. Lawton
WLawton@aol.com

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[Michael Feldman]

In article <3gcaf8$p76@lainet2.lainet.com>,  <mannion@lainet.com> wrote:
>I am a computer science student and I am trying to locate Meridian's ADA 
>Compiler and Bamp v4.1.1
>This is what they are using in our lab. Any information or help locating
>these programs would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
>


Rational/Verdix/Meridian has turned these over to the book publisher,
D.C. Heath.

Students can buy the Meridian OpenAda compiler from D.C. Heath.   Call them
at 1-800-334-3284.  Tell the operator you are placing a #1-PREFER order.

PC versions
   Five 3 1/2" disks plus documentation  (35629-8)
   Nine 5 1/4" disks plus documentation  (34139-8)

Mac version
   12 disks plus documentation           (35630-1)

I don't know the exact pricing.  It is $49 for bookstores.  I think it is
$69 plus shipping and tax for individuals.  And I think that they ship UPS
ground.  Might be able to pay extra for faster shipping.

<flame on>

It is quite reasonable for Rational to have made this move; indeed, Meridian
should have ceased being a onesies retailer years ago. However:

(1) the turnover to D.C. Heath is one of the world's best-kept secrets.
    Rational could have made a big deal of this, or at least a small
    public announcement in the usual places;

(2) this arrangement covers only the low-end DOS compiler and the Mac one.
    The status of the high end OpenAda compilers, including the Windows
    one, is unclear at best. A recent post to this group quoted someone
    at Rational to the effect that these products are dead, and cannot be
    had even on an unsupported basis. I have not checked with Rational
    pn the correctness of that quote.

IMHO, Rational would do us all a favor by putting out an authoritative,
quotable statement saying in plain English what is going on.

<flame off>

Mike Feldman

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[David Weller]

In article <3gcaf8$p76@lainet2.lainet.com>,  <mannion@lainet.com> wrote:
>I am a computer science student and I am trying to locate Meridian's ADA 
>Compiler and Bamp v4.1.1
>This is what they are using in our lab. Any information or help locating
>these programs would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
>

Rational has decided to no longer support Meridian, for all intents
and purposes.  I believe their intent is to unify the entire Ada
world to working exclusively with the GNU Ada compiler, GNAT.  Their
plan appears to be working perfectly.

(Tongue firmly in cheek)
-- 
      Frustrated with C, C++, Pascal, Fortran?  Ada95 _might_ be for you!
	  For all sorts of interesting Ada95 tidbits, run the command:
"finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.)
	

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[David Weller]

In article <3gg409$but@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, WLawton <wlawton@aol.com> wrote:
>The Meridian compiler vendor has been merged with Rational.
>
>If you contact the Rational sales department, you may be able to obtain a
>copy remaining on the shelf.
>

Haha!  Whie you're at it, ask them when the next upgrade is coming!
(But don't be surprised to hear "Never")

To make up the loss though, Rational would be glad to sell you  acopy
of Apex for WindowsNT :-)

-- 
      Frustrated with C, C++, Pascal, Fortran?  Ada95 _might_ be for you!
	  For all sorts of interesting Ada95 tidbits, run the command:
"finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.)
	

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[David Weller]

In article <3gghmv$cdh@felix.seas.gwu.edu>,
Michael Feldman <mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu> wrote:
>
>IMHO, Rational would do us all a favor by putting out an authoritative,
>quotable statement saying in plain English what is going on.
>

Let me add my comments here.  Back in, hmm, 87-88, I recommended
Meridian look into the "BlackBeard" editor.  A shareware editor with
lots of nice features.  Well, sure enough, they did, and decided it
was worth including into the Open Ada product.  I was rather pleased
they did this -- it was quite a powerful editor.  When I asked a
Rational person (at a certain conference not too long ago) about Open
Ada, they did indeed tell me about OpenAda going to DC Heath.  The
implication I had was the DC Heath bought the masters and was going
to sell it basically as an "unmaintained" product.

Now, I can't really fault Rational for doing this -- the profit
margins were probably in the negative range, and OpenAda doesn't
really conform to that "upper class" image they're marketing.  Still,
I agree with Mike that quietly slipping OpenAda under the rug was a
very unwise thing to do, especially considering most students use
that as their primary compiler at home and at school.  Surrendering
that market to GNAT is, IMHO, a Good Thing; however, at least that
should have been admitted (I guess they couldn't because that would
trash DC Heath's planned profit margins, I suppose).  OK, I think I
understand now why Rational hasn't said anything.  :-)



-- 
      Frustrated with C, C++, Pascal, Fortran?  Ada95 _might_ be for you!
	  For all sorts of interesting Ada95 tidbits, run the command:
"finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.)
	

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[Kent Mitchell]

David Weller (dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM) wrote:
: Rational has decided to no longer support Meridian, for all intents
: and purposes.  I believe their intent is to unify the entire Ada
: world to working exclusively with the GNU Ada compiler, GNAT.  Their
: plan appears to be working perfectly.

: (Tongue firmly in cheek)

In case anyone fails to notice Dave's tongue ... Rational continues to
support the Meridian compilers.  However, we are in the process of unifying
our compiler families (we have three) and there is no new development being
done based on the Meridian technology.  Rational will be producing compilers
out of the VADS/Apex product line merger to support various targets such as
NT and other Intel and MS targets.

--
Kent Mitchell                   | One possible reason that things aren't
Technical Consultant            | going according to plan is .....
Rational Software Corporation   | that there never *was* a plan!

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[Michael Feldman]

In article <3ggi06$o5g@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>,
David Weller <dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> wrote:

>Rational has decided to no longer support Meridian, for all intents
>and purposes.  I believe their intent is to unify the entire Ada
>world to working exclusively with the GNU Ada compiler, GNAT.  Their
>plan appears to be working perfectly.

>(Tongue firmly in cheek)

I rather think this is a good example of the Accursed Law of Unintended
Consequences. On the other hand, this will surely be the result, more
surely than if they had planned it that way.

BTW - How is RR Software coming with that Janus Ada 95 of theirs.
Haven't used it since GNAT/DOS came out, but at the time it showed
some promise.

Mike Feldman

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[Michael Feldman]

In article <3gk14p$nfi@rational.rational.com>,
Kent Mitchell <kdm@rational.com> wrote:

>In case anyone fails to notice Dave's tongue ... Rational continues to
>support the Meridian compilers.  However, we are in the process of unifying
>our compiler families (we have three) and there is no new development being
>done based on the Meridian technology.  Rational will be producing compilers
>out of the VADS/Apex product line merger to support various targets such as
>NT and other Intel and MS targets.

Now I am getting confused, because of the post a few days ago from a 
person who called Rational looking for a copy of OpenAda/Windows, and
was told that there were no copies to be had, that Rational wasn't
selling them anymore.

If you mean "support" narrowly, in the sense of supporting existing
customers, I understand your note. If you mean "selling new copies",
then the different folks at Rational ought to agree on whether they are
or they aren't. This cries out for an authoritative post from someone
at Rational. Kent, if this post of yours _is_ authoritative, then somebody
should tell the folks who answer the phones.

Mike Feldman

Re: Meridian v4.1.1 ????

[Dave Retherford]

In article <3gk14p$nfi@rational.rational.com>,
Kent Mitchell <kdm@rational.com> wrote:
> David Weller (dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM) wrote:
> : Rational has decided to no longer support Meridian, for all intents
> : and purposes.  I believe their intent is to unify the entire Ada
> : world to working exclusively with the GNU Ada compiler, GNAT.  Their
> : plan appears to be working perfectly.
> 
> : (Tongue firmly in cheek)
> 
> In case anyone fails to notice Dave's tongue ... Rational continues to
> support the Meridian compilers.  However, we are in the process of unifying
> our compiler families (we have three) and there is no new development being
> done based on the Meridian technology.  Rational will be producing compilers
> out of the VADS/Apex product line merger to support various targets such as
> NT and other Intel and MS targets.
> 
So, I guess here that 'unify our compiler families' is Rationalese for 
bring the compilers up to the same cost level as VADS/Apex seats.  
Sigh...so much for the poor Ada programmer at home.  GNAT sure keeps 
looking more and more like a permanet cost effective solution :-).  There 
goes my Meridian.
-- 
 _________________________________________________________________________
| Dave Retherford                 | "Remember this:  While somebody is    |
|  Daver@Neosoft.com  or:         | is down there kissin' your butt,      |
|  Dave_Retherford@hso.link.com   | they could just as easily be bitin'   |
|       (work)                    | it too."  -- Forestt Gump             |
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