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, MSGID_RANDY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,4eb65fab6deaa097 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Robert Dewar Subject: Re: Lack of Mature Tools (was: Lockheed Martin, Green Hills, etc.) Date: 2000/05/03 Message-ID: <8ep009$is3$1@nnrp1.deja.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 618631498 References: <87aeidsgr8.fsf@think.mihalis.net> X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x43.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 205.232.38.14 Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed May 03 10:45:31 2000 GMT X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDrobert_dewar Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.61 [en] (OS/2; I) Date: 2000-05-03T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , 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.