Why IBM is a detriment to non-Mandate Ada growth

[agate!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!eff!world!srctran@ames. arc.nasa.gov (Gregory Aharonian)]

   For some time, I have been arguing that IBM's refusal to promote Ada in
the commercial MIS world is effectively killing a chance that Ada will be
broadly accepted, and the partial hypocrisy that results with IBM's being
a part of the STARS program  (i.e. kick them out and make them return the
money).

   A recent article in an IBM specific magazine backs up my contention.
The magazine (and there are magazines outside the non-Mandated world) is
titled "Enterprise Systems Journal", a magazine for IBM and compatible
mainframe, minis and workstations.  Typical articles discuss abends, DB,
MVS, RS/6000, etc.

   In the February 1993 issue, page 45, there is an article titled
"Why IS Rejects Object-Oriented Programming", and discusses the slow
acceptance of OOP by IS managers.  Where IS does adopt OOP, it tends to be
either C++ or Smalltalk.  And once again, Ada is no where mentioned.

   Anyways, at one point, the author, an industry analyst, writes:

	"Many new OOP development environments are evolving to"
	address more traditional IS concerns.  Smalltalk, for
	example, is moving rapidly toward better integration
	with IS software since IBM adopted the language for
	AD/CYCLE and established communications with the small
	software firms behind its development.

----

     Corporate IBM has never said squat about Ada anywhere, has never
included Ada in any of its news software engineering methodologies, and
has little to do with small software firms behind Ada.

     Ada will forever be dead in the non-mandated world as long as IBM is
silent about Ada.  Dead, dead, dead, no matter how many people pretend that
Ada has some rosy future.  And while I wholeheartedly support IBM's right
to whatever it feels is profitable (like ignoring Ada for Smalltalk and C++),
they have no right to receive STARS funding for telling a story completely
contradictory to their commercial activities.  There are enough companies
willing to tell both their defense and non-defense customers the same story
about Ada who belong in STARS.

Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimization
-- 
**************************************************************************
Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimiztion
P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178