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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,fcb0072348661b90 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-21 08:56:36 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!canoe.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsmaster1.prod.itd.earthlink.net!newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Need the Same Promotion for Ada From: Charles Hixson References: <3B2A8A95.6F8D1290@lmtas.lmco.com> <3B2B73D0.F5E67C01@flash.net> <9gl2kv$abb$1@nh.pace.co.uk> Organization: Mandala Fluteworks Message-ID: User-Agent: Xnews/4.06.11 Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 15:56:35 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.94.156.19 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net 993138995 198.94.156.19 (Thu, 21 Jun 2001 08:56:35 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 08:56:35 PDT X-Received-Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 08:54:28 PDT (newsmaster1.prod.itd.earthlink.net) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:8981 Date: 2001-06-21T15:56:35+00:00 List-Id: "Marin David Condic" wrote in news:9gl2kv$abb$1@nh.pace.co.uk: > I have said here before that the best way to get Ada out of > the "niche market" and into the "mass market" would be to > get a really nice, integrated development kit into a > shrink-wrap box with a book and get this in a corner gondola > display at CompUSA, et alia. Thousands of programmers are > totally unaware of the existence of Ada and they don't stand > much of a chance of becoming aware of it when the number of > books about Ada on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, Fryes, > etc. is at or near zero and their exposure to Ada products > on the shelves at Best Buy or CompUSA is at a similar level. > >... > MDC > -- > Marin David Condic > Senior Software Engineer > Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com > Enabling the digital revolution > e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com > Web: http://www.mcondic.com/ ... > Here's a bit of a problem. The obvious answer would be to package Gnat, Gtk+, Glade (the dialog builder, not the annex) with an editor a bit better than AdaGlide or JGrasp and a really good installer. Some nice help files. A few utilities. The problem is that I don't know how often you could sell it. Basically what you are doing here is putting together a distribution that's a compiler instead of an OS, and it's not clear that you could recover your costs. And creating an installer that could successfully install that combination on a computer picked at random isn't trivial. (E.g., I still haven't gotten Glade to work on my Win95 box. I haven't worked at it much, but it's a lot simpler to get it working on one box than one all of them. Particularly the one's that haven't been released yet.) It should also work on Linux, but that shouldn't be as much of a big deal. It looks like an easier job, and if it doesn't, you don't loose as much. Not only is the market smaller, it's easier to get all of the pieces, and get them working. And most of the users will be more adept (Winxx systems make being adept quite difficult). -- Charles Hixson Copy software legally, the GNU way! Use GNU software, and legally make and share copies of software. See http://www.gnu.org http://www.redhat.com http://www.linux-mandrake.com http://www.calderasystems.com/ http://www.linuxapps.com/