From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.0 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_40 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 5 Jun 93 22:11:41 GMT From: world!srctran@decwrl.dec.com (Gregory Aharonian) Subject: GAO: Favoritism Found in DARPA Funding Message-ID: List-Id: For a long time, I have been arguing that if the DoD really cared about Ada, that it would use its clout to force its contractors to do more to foster Ada acceptance in the non-Mandated world. Some people have argued back that the DoD never uses its clout in this way, that defense procurement is an entirely honorable pursuit. Well, the May 28 issue of Science, page 1237, reports on a soon to be released General Accounting Office report, in which the GAO confirms industry allegations that in the past DARPA's research support and purchasing policies have consistently favored two supercomputer companies, Thinking Machines and Intel, to the extent of essentially excluding their competitors. GAO found that, of the 68 massively parallel machines that researchers have purchased with DARPA support, nearly two-thirds were made by Intel - and all the rest by Thinking Machines. Since the GAO launched an investigatin last year [how come the DoD didn't launch its own investigation based on industry complaints?], things have opened up for parallel computer procurements. ------ So it does appear that the DoD does use its clout to shape market behavior when it really believes in something, like parallel processing. Since the DoD isn't using its clout to get the Ada contractors to get off their marketing duffs, I guess the DoD just doesn't care about the health of Ada. Admittedly, the DoD shouldn't use its clout in this manner, but this is one area in which I wouldn't mind them acting more socialist in their interventions. (Hey, I admit I am a closest Marxist and would love to see Groucho in charge of Ada policy). -- ************************************************************************** Greg Aharonian Source Translation & Optimization P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178