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=1.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1b3168883a723ba2,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-10-06 00:06:51 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!news.kei.com!world!srctran From: srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) Subject: Give a Tri-Ada award to General Sullivan Message-ID: Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 02:21:27 GMT Date: 1994-10-06T02:21:27+00:00 List-Id: There are some discussions about achievement awards to be given out at the upcoming Tri-Ada. Given Ada's continual stagnation, this is somewhat hilarious, but if it must be, here's my suggestion for an award and recipient: BIGGEST BLOWN CHANCE TO PROMOTE ADA: General Gordon Sullivan Admittedly this is a tough award to select a winner, there are so many worthy candidates, but given the following assumptions, his choice was obvious: 1) The DoD is committed to Ada 2) The DoD realizes Ada's market share is minimal everywhere 3) The DoD hierarchy should exploit all possible opportunities to publicly promote Ada Given these assumptions, how did General Sullivan blow a perfect chance to promote Ada in Fortune magazine? In the September 19, 1994, Fortune magazine (something many people spending their own money read in the business world) has a fantastic article about "New Ideas From the Army" - all the great new things that the Army is doing (and are doing - Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Economist and similar magazines don't write fluff). I'd give my right arm for Fortune to write a similar story about my business - in fact, I'd give the right arms of everyone at DISA if Fortune wrote a similar story about my business (which would also stop more Ada policies from being hatched). The article is a great PR piece, and I am sure many businesspeople reading the article will consider adopting some of the Army practices mentioned. A good deal of the article discusses General Sullivan's plans to build up the Information Age army - "an Army of 2010 that is joined by electronic mail, plus digitally transmitted data and video pictures. The effect on command and control will be staggering." A variety of successful Army computer efforts are mentioned in the article. Gee maybe some of the readers might wonder what software technologies the Army is using to build the future; if it works for the Army maybe it would work for their companies. Once again, a perfect opportunity for someone very visible in the DoD to publicly embrace and tout Ada in a forum important in the arena where Ada commercialization will take place. Someone high up in the DoD to mention Ada in the light, instead of the shadows of Tri-Ada and STSC. AND ONCE AGAIN SOMEONE FROM THE DOD SCREWS UP SUCH AN OPPORTUNITY. He didn't have to say Ada in every sentence, though it would have been nice. But couldn't he have stressed Ada enough to the reporter in the emphatic way that everyone in the DoD loves Ada, so that Ada could have been mentioned at least once in the article? Why are people in the Mandated world so afraid to publicly embrace Ada in the non-Mandated world? Why can't these same great lovers of Ada show some guts and take on ARPA, whose non-Ada stance will make stillborn any Ada initiative coming out of DISA? Why doesn't anyone complain about the hypocrisy of KBSA in light of the Ada Mandate and STARS? Why was DISA afraid to ask for specific monies in their DualUse plan? Why should anyone on the outside believe anything in the good-old-boys Ada Mandated world has changed? Not making sure Ada was mentioned in the Fortune article is yet one more signal that the DoD brass is still ambivalent about Ada, and as long as this goes on, Ada commercialization is going nowhere but into a pool of red ink. For this, in a very close race, the award (a C compiler from Intermetrics, a C++ CASE tool from Alsys, and a C++ software engineering lecture from Rational) goes to General Sullivan. Greg Aharonian