Re: GNAT GPL is not shareware

["Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>]

"David Botton" <david@botton.com> wrote in message 
news:1337ca4c-a19e-468e-bc07-5412438f662b@googlegroups.com...
>> That's not really fair. Both Atego (with ObjectAda) and RRS (with 
>> Janus/Ada)
>> tried to market low-cost compilers for the mass market, but neither made
>> money.
>
>You missed my point, which was fair. There is _no_ low-cost compiler 
>market. That bottomed
>out already before OA and RRS started to market their products to a 
>non-existing market.
>That market is not going to materialize again ever either.

RRS started low-cost compilers in 1984, long before GNAT existed. But 
whatever.

But if there is no market, then there is no point in making a compiler at 
all, because giving it away will not pay the bills.

Outreach in the form of demos, GPL versions, etc is cool, but not if it 
cannablizes your main revenue stream (whatever that is).

So I'm not quite sure what your point was. Which is probably why I missed 
it. :-)

...
>> Which makes it problematical, as some sort of support is required (at a
>> minimum, packaging and fixing of packaging, which can take an amazing 
>> amount
>> of time).
>
>A long time ago, people realized that open source changed where the dollars 
>are in software.

No, open source eliminated all of the dollars from software. There are 
dollars in support of various sorts, some dollars from people who don't know 
better, and some dollars from mega-corps building dedicated systems, and 
that's about it. And all of those things require people skills that many 
software developers don't have and can't realistically acquire (I suspect 
that many developers are borderline autistic).

But people that have those sorts of skills have many opportunities better 
than software. So it's hard to imagine who will be filling these jobs. And 
the people who traditionally have built software are unemployed or 
underemployed. (Of course, most jobs will be automated in the coming years, 
so that is going to be a growing problem for society to deal with.)

> The vendors that can't see beyond compiler sales haven't survived (per se) 
> and those
> in large support contracts are floating, but not swimming if that is their 
> only real product.

There's little of value beyond software sales (and I don't consider 
"maintenance contracts" a-la AdaCore any different than sales). Most 
remaining jobs are glorified marketing jobs that society would be better off 
without. Even cloud-based stuff is just a vessel for marketers, criminals, 
and governments to invade your privacy and steal your money (I'll let you 
figure out which are doing what ;-).

I'm sure it's possible to make money from software, because it's possible 
for con men to make money from nothing, but whether its possible to make 
money and retain one's ethics is highly dubious.

                                                      Randy.