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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,b9ba038def42cde X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) Subject: Re: 'cheap Ada compilers', was Re: GNAT 3.03 for OS/2 Date: 1996/03/28 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 144774907 references: <4jelq4$d76@news2.delphi.com> organization: Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-03-28T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: tmoran said It's true that the GNAT updates that exist are free. But it's been stated that if we want to see very many updates, a bunch of people need to pay $1200/person/year for support (or donate work). (Maybe GNAT should do 'pledge breaks'. ;) Well certainly the frequency of distribution and quality of GNAT ports will be a function of the resources available for the various ports. No one is handing out free resources in this world. For example, the Amiga port of GNAT is at some very out of date level, simply because not enough people are interested. The OS/2 version is somewhere in between, actually the commercial interest in the OS/2 version of GNAT is comparable to the interest in the Amiga version, but luckily for the non-paying OS/2 customers, Robert Dewar is an OS/2 fan and not an Amiga fan. In fact I find it disappointing that, compared to other targets, there is so little interest in the OS/2 version. Alsys found much the same disappointing reaction to their OS/2 version. "I haven't been to the local Egghead lately - is a grand a year what Borland and Microsoft are charging for C++ or Visual Basic these days? I just got an Alsys ad in the mail for three ActivAda products at $99, $595, and $995. Does their 'optional subscription plan' for these cost $1K? As I recall RR's one year support with upgrades cost more like a tenth of that. I suspect, in fact, that most people don't buy support contracts for either GNAT or commercial software." Well remember we charge nothing for updates. The support we provide is indeed far more than casual users would want to pay, and there are, happilly many casual users of Ada 95! It is a premium service for those who need the kind of support level we provide. Our aim is to ensure that our paying customers using GNAT succeed, and that often requires a significant amount of help and advice as well as help in navigating around errors in various components of the system, including operating systems errors. You obviusly need to choose the Ada product and support plan that suits your needs. GNAT is available free, and we accept problem reports from all users -- many users have commented that even the free service we provide seems pretty good to them. On the other hand our commercial support services are aimed at those with critical projects who need a high level of support. The only way we could charge less is to give less support, and we don't see that as a service that is useful. In the world of demanding applications, there are no B- grades for 50% success, there are only A's and F's, and we are committed to our commercial users getting A's! Robert Dewar Ada Core Technologies P.S. Ted, you shouldn't complain too much at all those people who are paying what seems to you to be a high price for support. They are the ones who are making possible the continued distribution of free versions of GNAT for OS/2 and other systems :-) P.P.S. Really the issue for the continued health of the OS/2 version of GNAT has little to do with commercial support (I really don't anticipate the OS/2 version ever being self-supporting). Instead you just have to hope that Robert Dewar continues to like using OS/2 :-)