Re: A very successful Ada marketing disaster in Boston

[att!att-out!cbnewsl!willett@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (david.c.willett)]

>From article <CD02pr.7vJ@world.std.com>, by srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aha
ronian):
	{Good news deleted -- good job here, Greg!}
> 
>      On a sad note, Ada is in deep, deep trouble, if one attendee's comments
> hold true.  At one point, a manager from a small networking/simulation compan
y
> stopped by the booth and spent some time talking.  They do simulation work
> for NASA and maybe for the DoD.  After he said that they used C, I asked why
> and if they had considered Ada.  His comments reflect the concerns I've 
> posted to comp.lang.ada that the Mandated world has been ignoring for years,
> whether or not this person's perceptions are right or wrong.
>      He felt that Ada compilers were too expensive, had a reputation for not
> allowing rapid prototyping, had few application libraries to link to, little
> demand from his customers for Ada, there are few qualified programmers to cal
l
> upon for projects, and to some extent was avoiding Ada because of the many
> reports in Computerworld and Government Computer News about squabbles over
> Ada inside the DoD.  I described some of Rational's products which met his
> concerns, and he seemed interested, until I mentioned prices, at which point
> he said that they were too pricey, given the systems Microsoft and Borland
> are offering for C++.
>      Right or wrong, this guys perceptions are probably common for many
> programmers and managers outside the Mandated world.  And they won't change
> until the Mandated world makes an effort to get out there and sell the
> language.  40 companies at TriAda and 1 or 2 elsewhere is disgraceful, and
> slowly allows Ada to dieoff.

	{Greg's closing & signature deleted}

Greg seems to be leaping here.  He finds one manager who expresses opinions
he (Greg) happens to agree with, and immediately these opionions become
"common for many programmers & managers..."  That's the kind of thing one
expects from the news media, but not from a (computer) scientist.  I've 
noted this trend in a number of Greg's "-- read an article in a trade rag --"
postings of late, and I find it annoying.  One opinion or analysis does not
a trend make, and we should not be so sheepish as to think so.

Unfortunately, Greg's point is consistent with the annecdotal evidence I've 
encountered.  How does it square with the rest of you? Are these attitudes 
indeed "common"?


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Dave Willett          AT&T Federal Systems Advanced Technologies

The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you work for someone else.
			
			-- Anonymous