Re: MinGW Ada compiler licence question targeting commercial applications

[Marco <prenom_nomus@yahoo.com>]

IMHO commercial GNAT is really for larger companies that can afford
the fairly high cost.

If you are an individual intending to sell your software for Windows
users:

1) develop with some free GNAT compiler until you think that the
program has potential to make money - only use BSD style license
packages and libraries not GPL

2) purchase a less expensive Ada compiler for release of your product
(which you can deduct as a business cost) such as the "Janus/Ada 95
Personal Edition for Win NT/95" and leave GNAT behind.

    Any other inexpensive Ada for Windows compilers out there?

Call me a capitalist, but I believe people still should be able to
earn money developing software whether it is for a large company or as
an individual. Let the market sort out whether it has any value.
Sometimes it just doesn't have enough value to charge for it.

I also feel that GPL software certainly has an important place in the
world such as for learning a new language, back in the 1980's Ada
never really caught on because most compilers cost a lot of money.  [A
Turbo-Ada back then would have a gone a long way.
There were also stupid DoD no sub-setting rules that help prevent this
as well. The DoD should have formally defined an Ada-S without tasking
and other items that compiler makers were having trouble with at the
time.]