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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,da46977c58c329df X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-02-04 19:06:17 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.ems.psu.edu!news.cis.ohio-state.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!btnet-peer1!btnet-peer0!btnet!psiuk-p2!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada's Slide To Oblivion ... Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 13:24:24 -0500 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: <4519e058.0201310714.650888e1@posting.google.com> <3C598CAA.7040801@home.com> <3C59FDF8.1F1AB5F1@adaworks.com> <3C5EBC07.6A27AE8A@west.raytheon.com> <3C5EC996.80428514@adaworks.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1012847065 28468 136.170.200.133 (4 Feb 2002 18:24:25 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 4 Feb 2002 18:24:25 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:19618 Date: 2002-02-04T18:24:25+00:00 List-Id: In my mind, the problem comes down to marketing. All of us here know and pretty much agree on the reasons why Ada is technically superior. We can even make a pretty good business case in some areas as to why Ada makes more sense economically. We can even get some acquiescence on the part of many C/C++/Java programmers that Ada is superior in some ways - maybe even in most ways. So why is the choice going over to C/C++/Java instead of Ada? Clearly, Ada is not providing *something* the customer wants. Or if it provides it, it isn't obvious or it isn't the thing we are touting. Many of us have theorized about it, but a lot of that is just educated guesses. We suggest answers, but we lack the coordinated effort to do much about it. To rehash the past a bit - had the DoD looked at Ada less as something to be mandated and more as a product that needed to be sold, things might have gone differently. If Ada had been launched by Micro$oft instead of DoD, there would have been a coordinated media blitz that would have made Ada the household buzzword and hot topic in the computer press. But nobody schmoozed the media or spent money on magazine ads, press junkets, television spectacles, etc. Could it be turned around? I think so - but it wouldn't be easy. If Ada still had a large institutional backer like the DoD, it would make sense to hire a marketing company to a) research what the market wants, b) figure out what Ada has - or could be made to have - that addresses that demand and c) design a marketing campaign that would get the word out effectively. Lacking the big institutional backer, it might still be possible to get the marketing research done, but it needs to be done by people with expertise in this area. Maybe a way could be figured out to get that information under the umbrella of SIGAda or some other interested group? A published marketing study with a recommended strategy might serve to give Ada proponents a focus with which they might be more effective? 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/ "Richard Riehle" wrote in message news:3C5EC996.80428514@adaworks.com... > > So, even as we hear them recite the refrain, "Ada is probably a better language," > we hear also the bumper sticker slogan, "It can be done as well in C++." >