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: 103376,6570fee5e7c7a796 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1995-01-11 06:31:09 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.pop.psu.edu!psuvax1!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!agate!blanket.mitre.org!linus.mitre.org!spectre!emery From: emery@goldfinger.mitre.org (David Emery) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: "No" Ada jobs in the Boston area Date: 11 Jan 1995 14:31:09 GMT Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA. Message-ID: References: <3eumvc$b4@rational.rational.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: goldfinger.mitre.org In-reply-to: kdm@puppy.rational.com's message of 10 Jan 1995 19:25:32 GMT Date: 1995-01-11T14:31:09+00:00 List-Id: As a long time stockholder in Rational Software Corporation and previously Verdix (I bought my first Verdix stock in '84 or '85), I can appreciate the emphasis on 'making money'. But, I do NOT think that this attitude is the way to win in the long run. Business schools seem to teach techniques for optimizing short-term returns, with the goal of short term increases in profitability and stock price. ("Jack up the price, then cash in your chips.") This has resulted in an over-emphasis on short term returns on investment, at the expense of building long-term market share. I think that the Ada compiler industry has been guilty of trying to recoup profits too quickly, and thereby charging too much for its entry-level products. Then, an even greater sin, my experience is that the compiler vendors then short-change product support, taking the resources and placing them into new ventures. The net result is a portfolio of poorly-supported, buggy products, that do not "make friends and influence people". A related problem that I've seen from some vendors is a sense of "we know more than you do", with tools and marketing approaches that emphasize the vendor's solution at the expense of the customer's needs. Or, in other words, the vendor says "You can only write software our way, and you have to pay us a lot of $$ for all these tools we think you should be using." (Sounds like IBM, Wang and DEC before those companies hit the rocks.) Maybe I'm starting to whine like GA, but there are occasions when even GA hits on a grain of truth. I saw my investment in Verdix and Rational as a long-term investment, but ended up selling most of my shares when it became clear that the corporate approach was to maximize short-term results. I still retain some Verdix/Rational shares, if nothing else than as a memento of what could have been... Maybe software company stocks will become collectors items like RR stocks are now... dave -- --The preceeding opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of --The MITRE Corporation or its sponsors. -- "A good plan violently executed -NOW- is better than a perfect plan -- next week" George Patton -- "Any damn fool can write a plan. It's the execution that gets you -- all screwed up" James Hollingsworth -------------------------------------------------------------------------