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=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FROM_WORDY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,e6d1607a5397de6b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2000-11-01 16:42:35 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!hermes.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!nntp.flash.net!news.flash.net!not-for-mail From: "Ken Garlington" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <39FDE9E4.35F615A6@netwood.net> <39FE461D.275F1363@ix.netcom.com> <8tmt7o$vbj$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <39FEFBF8.D62508B8@netwood.net> <39FF8255.20ACC687@acm.org> <3A006EB1.BA1B841F@averstar.com> Subject: Re: Is the Ada World Embarrassed by the Defense Industry? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Message-ID: <_L2M5.2859$pq3.198726@news.flash.net> Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 00:42:34 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.215.70.133 X-Complaints-To: abuse@flash.net X-Trace: news.flash.net 973125754 216.215.70.133 (Wed, 01 Nov 2000 18:42:34 CST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 18:42:34 CST Organization: FlashNet Communications, http://www.flash.net Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:1699 Date: 2000-11-02T00:42:34+00:00 List-Id: "Tucker Taft" wrote in message news:3A006EB1.BA1B841F@averstar.com... : Ken Garlington wrote: : > : > Actually, as the person who started this thread, I was talking about : > marketing. It just seems odd to make choices that damage your historical : > customer base (military) before you've adequately captured your new base : > (non-military). : : I think we are interested in appealing to military customers. If you have : recommendations of the best way to do so, please fire away. : I honestly had the sense that broadcasting military success stories : was actually counterproductive in some circles, including some military : circles. Advertising military success stories, based on contracts where the language was specified by the Government, is probably counter-productive. Advertising success stories where Ada was chosen by a military contractor *on their own*, based on a business case specific to defense applications, is much more productive in the defense market. Defense contractors look at what other companies in their same industry are doing, just like any other business segment. I have heard more than once that statement "Once the Ada mandate was dropped, all the other military contractors stopped using Ada, so why should we use it?" You know what? If you look at what's been published post-mandate, it's not an easy statement to refute. At this point, it probably doesn't matter. However, I suspect that not drawing this distinction in the decision to concentrate on non-defense applications was a mistake.