* Pricing Ada out of Education
@ 1991-01-03 18:22 Richard Pattis
1991-01-03 20:21 ` Arthur Evans
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Richard Pattis @ 1991-01-03 18:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
Many schools are beginning to look beyond Pascal and C as their language of
instruction. Many successful authors are looking beyond Pascal and C for
writing introductory, intermediate, and advanced Computer Science and
Engineering textbooks.
The two main contenders (leaving out the "odder" languages of Scheme, ML,
and Smalltalk) seem to be Ada and C++. I don't want to start any discussion
of the merits of these two languages, or of the quality of various language
implementations. But I would like to illustrate some pricing strategies that
make C++ very attractive to Universities (and hence authors who want to write
books).
I was quoted these prices today (1/3/91) on the phone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vendor: Borland (408) 438-5300 (contact customer support)
Product Name Retail Education
C++ 200 70
Professional 300 140
Small Model (Ed only) 40 (64K data/64K code)
C++ Lab pack 10 C++, 1 Doc: $350
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vendor: Zortech C++ (800) 848-8408
Retail Education
Compiler 200 75
Developer 450 200
Compiler pack 10 Compiler, 1 Doc 300 (+30/doc extra; up to 9 more)
Developer pack 10 Developer, 1 Doc 700 (+60/doc extra; up to 9 more)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
1991-01-03 18:22 Richard Pattis
@ 1991-01-03 20:21 ` Arthur Evans
1991-01-03 21:02 ` Richard Pattis
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Arthur Evans @ 1991-01-03 20:21 UTC (permalink / raw)
If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all
means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada
compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support.
Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600.
I was previously employed at Tartan and have left. While at Tartan I
made heavy use of the Sun product and liked it very much; I have little
experience on VMS.
Art Evans
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
My opinions are not necessarily those of my employer.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
1991-01-03 20:21 ` Arthur Evans
@ 1991-01-03 21:02 ` Richard Pattis
0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Richard Pattis @ 1991-01-03 21:02 UTC (permalink / raw)
In article <9852@as0c.sei.cmu.edu>, ae@sei.cmu.edu (Arthur Evans) writes:
> If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all
> means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada
> compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support.
> Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600.
>
Art should have written, "They *CHARGE* for support." I think that Tartan
has taken a step in the right direction, but it still costs about $1K-$4K
to *USE* their compiler (at least last time I checked, right after their
announcement).
I have recently written to an SEI group involved in kickstarting Ada in
education, suggesting that someone (compiler vendors, DoD, etc) subsidize
compiler use in education by allowing schools with a genuine interest to
use an Ada compiler, absolutely *FREE OF CHARGES*, for a year.
Rich Pattis
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
@ 1991-01-04 22:09 Tom Reid x4505
1991-01-07 8:49 ` Dr. Orville R. Weyrich
1991-01-07 15:24 ` Billy Yow 283-4009
0 siblings, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Tom Reid x4505 @ 1991-01-04 22:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Richard Pattis. I have wanted to
use Ada for a translator construction course that I teach. The university
does not use Ada in any of its classes now and I am off-campus so the
site license route is out. I need a mechanism that I can inform the
vendor the students in the course so that they can order directly or I have
to be distributor and collect from the students. Needless to say, I
prefer the first.
The price is another thing. After requiring a text book, I still need
a language tutorial book and the compiler. We are starting to look at
real money. Last year, I was able to have the students buy the Jensen
and Partners, Inc. Modula-2 student pak for $50. It included a nice
tutorial. I faxed my student role to JPI so they knew who was legit.
This method kept the student cost to under $100 (barely) and I thought
that was acceptable. I have also used shareware compilers.
The Ada vendors I approached were not as accommodating. Part of this
might be that JPI seriously targets college campuses whereas I do not
see the Ada vendors doing that. I would love to see an Ada vendor take
an agressive marketing fling at colleges and I would reward then by
trying to make Ada a serious part of the curriculum.
Thomas F. Reid, Ph. D. (703)818-4505 (work)
Contel Technology Center (703)742-8720 (home)
15000 Conference Center Drive Net: reid@ctc.contel.com
P.O. Box 10814
Chantilly, Va. 22021-3808
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
1991-01-04 22:09 Tom Reid x4505
@ 1991-01-07 8:49 ` Dr. Orville R. Weyrich
1991-01-07 15:24 ` Billy Yow 283-4009
1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Dr. Orville R. Weyrich @ 1991-01-07 8:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
In article <9101042209.AA02201@ctc.contel.com> reid@CTC.CONTEL.COM (Tom Reid x4505) writes:
>
>The Ada vendors I approached were not as accommodating. Part of this
>might be that JPI seriously targets college campuses whereas I do not
>see the Ada vendors doing that. I would love to see an Ada vendor take
>an agressive marketing fling at colleges and I would reward then by
>trying to make Ada a serious part of the curriculum.
>
I think that Meridian Ada has a package that is agressively targeted at
college campuses.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
1991-01-04 22:09 Tom Reid x4505
1991-01-07 8:49 ` Dr. Orville R. Weyrich
@ 1991-01-07 15:24 ` Billy Yow 283-4009
1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Billy Yow 283-4009 @ 1991-01-07 15:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
Did you check with Merdian. They have a version of their compiler called
Ada Student that was only 50.00 dollars last year. The compiler has some
limitations so that could be a problem. Also there newest compiler the AdaZ
product has a Hypertext version of the LRM which is very nice. The compiler is
selling for $149.00 (To go up to $495.00), I don't know if they are
offering any
educational discounts or not.
I am using their professional version to develop an application of
25,000 lines and have also used it with the STARS X-Bidding and
DESQview/X.
Bill Yow
The yow@magic.Berkeley.EDU is a lie.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: Pricing Ada out of Education
@ 1991-01-07 20:19 David Erickson
0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: David Erickson @ 1991-01-07 20:19 UTC (permalink / raw)
In article <9852@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> ae@sei.cmu.edu (Arthur Evans) writes:
>If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all
>means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada
>compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support.
>Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600.
>Art Evans
Actually, this is just a marketing ploy - the support is required, for
a minimum of three years. For example, a site license would cost
$5,000 per year, or $15,000. Support is also available on a cpu/server
basis (individual cpu cost is $500/yr, individual server cost is $2500/yr).
-Dave Erickson
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~1991-01-07 20:19 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
1991-01-07 20:19 Pricing Ada out of Education David Erickson
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1991-01-04 22:09 Tom Reid x4505
1991-01-07 8:49 ` Dr. Orville R. Weyrich
1991-01-07 15:24 ` Billy Yow 283-4009
1991-01-03 18:22 Richard Pattis
1991-01-03 20:21 ` Arthur Evans
1991-01-03 21:02 ` Richard Pattis
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox