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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00, LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bc1361a952ec75ca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-08-24 07:55:08 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-x2.support.nl!news-x.support.nl!psinet-eu-nl!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Progress on AdaOS Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 10:42:11 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: <9m5p45$7q9$1@nh.pace.co.uk> References: <9IFe7.12813$6R6.1221214@news1.cableinet.net> <9lghqu$ac6$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7C3293.76F49097@home.com> <9lhefg$lgd$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7D47F1.25D6FC78@boeing.com> <5ee5b646.0108171856.18631c4c@posting.google.com> <3B7F624B.7294D24F@acm.org> <9lr6je$5hj$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9ltoi7$4is$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B82789B.8D195045@home.com> <9ltuo8$70n$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B829450.879B0396@home.com> <9m0d08$51j$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B83DE1A.7770DC9C@home.com> <9m0rc6$ak0$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B83F894.D7082F9A@home.com> <9m12li$db7$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9m1u2m$baq2@news.cis.okstate.edu> <9m3ifu$bri$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9m494u$9ic1@news.cis.okstate.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 998664133 8009 136.170.200.133 (24 Aug 2001 14:42:13 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 24 Aug 2001 14:42:13 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:12382 Date: 2001-08-24T14:42:13+00:00 List-Id: Well, that's asking a whole different question. The question being: "Is there a market for the OS that you(someone) are proposing to build?" I don't know that the guys in the AdaOS team have asked that question or done any research to try to answer it. If one is approaching this project as strictly a "hobby" and "learning experience" and don't particularly care if anyone else ever uses the end product, then I suppose the answer doesn't matter much. You're right - language of implementation isn't going to be a big deal to the bulk of the potential users. Anybody proposing to build an OS that they have hopes of getting adopted by a large community is going to have to have something to offer that creates some product distinction. For example, higher reliability, realtime mode, better networking, unique (and superior) GUI, easier/more powerful API, etc. One would hope that Ada would support the development of one or more of those sort of distinguishing features, but it isn't a forgone conclusion. My feeling is that one useful product distinction that could be built into an OS for a PC type of machine would be some kind of selectable realtime mode of execution. Most of the PC/Workstation OS's in use don't do realtime (for good reasons) and have to either be replaced with a realtime version or have some kind of "add on" doohickie installed to provide realtime execution. Being able to say "Yeah, my OS looks/feels similar to Windows (or Unix or whatever you like) in most respects but you can write a realtime app and have it make a call to the OS to execute in realtime mode and 'bam!' you're there!" That would be something to offer that differentiates the product from the other players out there. Its also a natural playing field for Ada - hence some justification as to why use Ada in the first place. MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com Web: http://www.mcondic.com/ "Ted Dennison" wrote in message news:RVsh7.13233$2u.97927@www.newsranger.com... > That's a particuarly worthy point. There might be a few people here who would be > willing to use a new OS just because it was written in Ada, but 5 users does not > a success make. For just about anyone else, there are a lot more important > considerations in their choice of OS, like what applications it runs, how nice > the presentation is, how reliable it is, etc. > > Some may claim the the Ada OS will of course be more reliable, but remember that > the coding language is only one factor that goes into reliability. There's also > things like quality of the design, how its implemented, how well tested it is > (which is primiarily a function of *use*). An Ada OS may eventually grow to > become more secure and reliable, all other things being equal. But all other > things will *never* be equal. > > --- > T.E.D. homepage - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html > home email - mailto:dennison@telepath.com