Re: Lack of Mature Tools (was: Lockheed Martin, Green Hills, etc.)

[Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com>]

In article <I1vO4.586$XX5.462090@news.pacbell.net>,
  tmoran@bix.com wrote:

> Why they would want to go to the extra trouble, just to aid
> the competition (the public version being a competitor to the
> supported version), is not obvious.

Well I guess it is hard to succeed in being clear here, because
Tom is still confused. No, it has nothing to do with supposed
"competition" from the public version. What we offer to our
customers is far more than just software!

The point is, I will say it again, that we want to make it
very clear that Ada Core Technologies makes no kinds of
guarantees, nor takes any legal responsibilities, for the
public versions of GNAT. We do not want to take any other
steps that could be misinterpreted by others as indications
that this is not the case. The reason that we do not take
any responsibility is precisely that it is a public version.

The existence of public versions of open source technologies
that are freely modifiable by anyone, anywhere, at any time
for any reason, is a huge advantage *for certain kinds of
use*. For example, in the academic world, this kind of freedom
is immensely important, and it is very valuable for students
and academic researchers to be able to get their hands on this
kind of open technology by downloading freely available
versions, to be able to exchange modified versions etc.

We encourage such interchange, but we need to remind people
at the same time, that this incarnation of the GNAT technology
is not supported by Ada Core Technologies, and no guarantees
can be given.

Indeed the notion of free availability and support/guarantees
are definitely at odds, which is why the normal convention
for freely available software of this type is to display
a pretty fierce disclaimer. Here for example is what the
standard freely available gdb has to say:

  GDB is free software and you are welcome to distribute copies
  of it under certain conditions; type "show copying" to see the
  conditions. There is absolutely no warranty for GDB; type
  "show warranty" for details.

and if we follow the invitation, we get a very fierce legal
disclaimer:

  11.  BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE
  IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
  APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE
  COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM
  "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
  IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
  WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
  PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
  OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE
  DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
  REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

  12.  IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED
  TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY
  WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED
  ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL,
  SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF
  THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT
  LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR
  LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE
  PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH
  HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
  SUCH DAMAGES.

Now for GNAT Professional, the support agreement does indeed
provide a detailed description of the support and guarantees
for this commercial product, but they do not apply at all
to the public version of GNAT. In the past, we have often
seen people get confused over our relationship to the public
version, and for example, to angrily demand that we guarantee
Y2K compatibility for this version. We try to make it as clear
as possible that the public version is NOT a commercial product
of Ada Core Technologies.

The public versions are tremendously useful, or at least we
like to think so :-) in helping to spread the use of Ada
especially in universities. But for many other purposes,
including for example evaluation of the technology for
possible use in mission critical projects, it is more
appropriate to contact us and arrange a free evaluation
of the supported commercial technology. It's simply a
matter of picking the right tools for the right job.

Robert Dewar
Ada Core Technologies


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.