Re: Why IBM is a detriment to non-Mandate Ada growth

[agate!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!eff!world!srctran@ucbvax.Berkeley .EDU (Gregory Aharonian)]

>>     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.

>I rather doubt it.  Back when IBM was a five hundred pound gorilla, it
>promoted a language called PL/I.  Turns out there are some things even
>a gorilla can't do.

>Besides, IBM won't be silent for much longer.  IBM won't be anything for
>much longer.

IBM is like Cobol and Fortran - it will be around, in some form.  Besides
the replacement for IBM, Microsoft has even less interest in Ada than IBM
(if there is something less than nothing).  The IS world, which makes up
the bulk of the non-mandated world, as it shifts over to the desktop,
distributed computing era, will see its new standard bearer, Microsoft,
showing no interest in Ada.  There will never be enough critical mass for
Ada in the non-mandated world to meet the implicit (and never stated)
assumptions behind current DoD software cost projections (such as tools and
programmer supply).

Doesn't anyone ever wonder (certainly not in the STARS program) why the
current software standard bearers in the non-mandated world ignore Ada
(a few of whom receive STARS funding - has anyone at any of the STARS
shindigs ever pestered the IBM representatives on why IBM ignores Ada?),
while none of the future standard bearers (such as Microsoft, Borland,
Computer Associates, Novell, or Lotus) ignore Ada and aren't involved
with DoD software engineering research activities?  Seems a strange way
to keep compatible with the world.

    There is currently a major price war between Microsoft and Borland
over the latest versions of their C++ compiler environments - development
systems for $150 with compilers, debuggers, browsers, code generators, 
GUI libraries, while Ada systems go for five times as much and more, while
offering less.

    People may smirk that C++ is borrowing a lot from Ada and is nothing
more than a copycat.  Well, how about Ada borrowing C++'s marketing
successes.

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