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,db9a11afb3da4240 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 102b75,501ec19d1d81daee X-Google-Attributes: gid102b75,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-03-27 14:12:47 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!skynet.be!skynet.be!news-x2.support.nl!psinet-eu-nl!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Cost of Ada support Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 19:17:47 -0500 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: < <3C9DBCEC.6820090E@earthlink.net> <$zjU3lVSbGVB@eisner.encompasserve.org> <0au1augta4utpds3g4bcb0h0oqcidpc5g2@4ax.com> <3CA0FEDF.BF6F2C55@raytheon.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1017188270 21550 136.170.200.133 (27 Mar 2002 00:17:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Mar 2002 00:17:50 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.arch:25988 comp.lang.ada:21730 Date: 2002-03-27T00:17:50+00:00 List-Id: It would also be important to consider the cost of support for similar technology at a similar level. What is the cost of a garden variety C++ compiler for the same level of support? You could get MSVC++ at a price and get quarterly updates for a price & probably not be able to get telephone support at any price - or at least not a reasonable price. Is someone else out there providing a similar level of support for a C++ compiler that ACT does for GNAT? I'd bet the price is competitive. What does Cygnus charge for gcc support and what do you get for that? And then you also have to ask just how much support do you really need for a smaller project? My experience with GNAT as a hobbyist and sometime internal developer of small production systems is that for the most part I don't really need a lot of hand holding or bug fixes. GNAT is pretty stable technology for the most part. Its also well documented. And when in doubt, there's usually free help to be had here on C.L.A. and other places. If I encounter a bug, I can generally program around it and move on. In this sense, I'm no worse off than if I were using MSVC++ at considerably more cost than the "nothing" I pay for downloading GNAT. I agree that it would be nice to get some level of support between "None" and "Everything". It might be worth a few bucks to people to subscribe to some kind of quarterly update service and get nothing else beyond that, but with the basic stability of GNAT and the non-critical nature of most projects, I've got to wonder if "Support" is that big an issue. It might be fair to argue that some given Ada compiler doesn't have as many critical tools and libraries as does some given C/C++/Java/(insert language here) compiler and that this is important to project success. I just don't see much of a case that can be made for bypassing Ada because a high level of support from one particular vendor costs a lot of money. There are other vendors - what are they offering for support and how much does it cost? MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com "Mark Johnson" wrote in message news:3CA0FEDF.BF6F2C55@raytheon.com... > Agreed. That is part of the pricing they chose to implement. They > explained the reasoning to me - perhaps you can ask to get the same > answer.... If you need the support and its worth say 8 weeks of labor to > pay for it, go ahead and do so. If not, ask questions on c.l.a or go to > another vendor. >