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 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,85034d1ac78a66eb X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-03-12 17:04:06 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!btnet-peer1!btnet-feed5!btnet!news.btopenworld.com!not-for-mail From: "Pam Kelly" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada Operating System Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 01:03:33 +0000 (UTC) Organization: BT Openworld Message-ID: References: <3c77b476.322111671@news.cis.dfn.de> <3C88E0D1.89161C16@despammed.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: host213-122-69-60.in-addr.btopenworld.com X-Trace: helle.btinternet.com 1015981413 28459 213.122.69.60 (13 Mar 2002 01:03:33 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news-complaints@lists.btinternet.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 01:03:33 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:21140 Date: 2002-03-13T01:03:33+00:00 List-Id: Hard to know which post to reply to but for what it's worth ... Linux has a huge following because it's free, there are masses of GPL applications available for it and there are increasingly a very significant number of heavy duty commercial applications available. So rewrite the Linux kernel in Ada. People might try it as a curiosity since they'll be able to use all their existing applications. It won't be frightening. Pick some applications with a long track record of vulnerabilities such as sendmail or bind. Rewrite them in Ada. There'll be more vulnerabilities reported and the Ada versions will be immune. Publicise it. The security community will start taking an interest. Because it is compatible with existing applications it's a viable os as it stands. They start to recommend an incremental move to applications written in Ada. Then you can substitute a new improved kernel. We're working on it. If you're interested let me know. "Wes Groleau" wrote in message news:3C88E0D1.89161C16@despammed.com... > > A pessimist's viewpoint: > > To make an operating system successful, you need > at least one of > > - sufficient quantity of useful applications > > - sufficient geek appeal to attract developers. > > - sufficent robustness/power/features to overcome > the lack of either of the others. > > To get people to write applications that run on it, > it must have enough users to make people want to > write apps for it. So you have a chicken/egg problem > for the first point. > > For the second, you have the prevailing distaste for > Ada against you ("Us" if you will). > > On the robustness/power/features point, obviously > Ada has a significant advantage over C/C++/Java. > > BUT, when you multiply the language potential > by the number of developers, Linux still comes > out ahead. In spite of its implementation language, > Linux is quite robust, and it has hundreds of > developers for every AdaOS developer to keep it > that way. Shift the target to features, and > Microsoft will always have you beat there. > They will always sacrifice security/robustness > to beat any competition in features. And their > "if you can't beat 'em, steal 'em" technique > also applies. > > So on the third point, you have say a hundred > developers and a language that scores ten on > some arbitrary rating scale vs. several thousand > developers and a language that scores one or two. > > Do the math and Ada loses. Unfortunately. > > -- > Wes Groleau > http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau