Re: A Customer's Request For Open Source Software

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca>]

Marin David Condic wrote:

> Someone pointed me at the foloowing article:
> 
> http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html?tag=lh

Very interesting article.

> Its an interesting conversation with the CEO of Ernie Ball - the guitar 
> string manufacturer. Apparently they totally dumped Micro$oft in favor 
> of open source software after getting sued for license infringements.
> 
> The interesting part for Ada is that the CEO is identifying some major 
> holes in the "Open Source" world that he thinks need to be filled. It 
> would be wise to listen to a successful business customer who might pick 
> up on something written in Ada and start using it if it were available...
> 
>  From the article:
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>  You've pretty much gotten by with off-the-shelf software. Was it tough 
> to find everything you needed in the open-source world?
> Yeah, there are some things that are tough to find, like payroll 
> software. We found something, and it works well. But the developers need 
> to start writing the real-world applications people need to run a 
> business...engineering, art and design tools, that kind of 
> stuff...They're all trying to build servers that already exist and do a 
> whole bunch of stuff that's already out there...I think there's a lot of 
> room to not just create an alternative to Microsoft but really take the 
> next step and do something new.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> MDC

I would have to agree. It would seem that there is plenty of interest
in making server and kernel enhancements, but much less support in
getting actual applications done.

I am very interested in doing applications myself. The problem is that
I want to do them strictly in Ada95, for all the reasons we know and
love. So right now, my time is spent building up a series of important
language bindings, one of which is APQ.

*APQ PLUG*  ;-)

My first version of APQ only supported PostgreSQL in an object oriented,
ODBC-less API. I am now in the process of generalizing that API, and
adding a MySQL binding (the packages now split between APQ.PostgreSQL
and APQ.MySQL). With the new binding in place, you'll will only
need to tweak a few things in your application, and then be able to switch
from PostgreSQL to MySQL, or vice versa with a recompile. Alternatively,
you could access them both if you have a reason to. Go to the home page
below, and follow the "Current Development: APQ Version 2.0 " link for
other late breaking details, and issues.

I have one other major binding in the works, but it is a larger effort,
and will need more development. But this is another essential piece
for my application development.

The point of all of this is that the pieces for building applications
are slowly falling into place. I figure another year of my own effort
is required, before I can start to work on the "fun stuff". I think
there are signs of other pieces falling into place as well (I need
to check out the new GtkAda for example).

-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg