Re: Improving Ada's image - Was: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics (why not Universities?)

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

Ralph W. Reid wrote:

> Around 12 years ago, I was working on my senior project in college,
> which was to develope a class for Ada.  Ada had been used during the
> previous semester for a class, but the HP-900/3XX system which housed
> the compiler was heavily overloaded at times, causing compile and run
> times to be annoyingly slow.  During my project, I asked the powers
> that were if an Ada compiler could be put on a faster system.  The
> response was that the cost of such a compiler then was $10,000--way
> outside of any reasonable expense at the time.  As far as I know, I
> was the last person to use Ada on any of the campus computers.  Gnat
> has since come out, but once the Ada idea died due to cost, it was
> never revived.

Around 12 years ago, many Ada compiler companies offered substantial 
discounts to educational institutions.  I wondered in part about the 
policy and got an interesting answer--that it was easier for many 
educational institutions to buy the software at a nominal price than to 
install free software on their systems.  So the nominal price about 
covered the paperwork, I think Verdix was $100.

It sounds like whoever checked prices didn't check the educational 
price, or that the current system was being used by students and 
research projects that didn't qualify for the discount.

-- 

                                           Robert I. Eachus

"The terrorists rejoice in the killing of the innocent, and have 
promised similar violence against Americans, against all free peoples, 
and against any Muslims who reject their ideology of murder. Their 
barbarism cannot be appeased, and their hatred cannot be satisfied. 
There's only one way to deal with terror: We must confront the enemy and 
stay on the offensive until these killers are defeated." -- George W. Bush