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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1efdd369be089610 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: pontius@btv.vnet.ibm.com (Dale Pontius) Subject: Re: gnat-3.10 Date: 1997/06/16 Message-ID: <5o480g$tqk$3@mdnews.btv.ibm.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 248899800 References: Organization: IBM Microelectronics Division Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-06-16T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , Ronald Cole writes: > > too prejudiced to accept bug reports from people you bully in this You seem to mistake postings here for official bug reports. Read ANY documentation on GNAT, and you'll find out that it is provided as-is. If support is required, and if GNAT is a critical part of your business, then you should become a paying GNAT user. Then you will get support. More importantly, ACT and Cygnus, among others are an absolutely critical experiment in the software industry. They will answer the question, "Is there any middleground between students/hobbyists hacking away at GNU code and commercial software houses like Micro- soft?" Only a little bit of GNU code has made it to the mainstream, and it's still pretty well untrusted in the business world, and it's all because of "support." Even though informal Usenet support from the author/maintainer is usually better than any company, business demands a business. ACT/Cygnus/etc are an important bridge that retains free software, yet makes it acceptable to business. You call ACT money-grubbing because they're not giving you free support. I call them downright generous because I have access to their software for free, even if it is unsupported. Dale Pontius (NOT speaking for IBM)