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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,2c7b0b777188b7c4 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,UTF8 Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!proxad.net!134.158.69.22.MISMATCH!in2p3.fr!oleane.net!oleane!hunter.axlog.fr!nobody From: Jean-Pierre Rosen Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: GNAT GPL Edition Maintenance and Upgrades Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 08:41:28 +0200 Organization: Adalog Message-ID: References: <1128499462.850353.146890@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <87ek6zom2h.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <87ek697ga5.fsf@willow.rfc1149.net> <435e99ee$0$23939$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net> <1130321538.366226.26460@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com> <4360b346$0$22526$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net> <1130420367.514210.117660@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <4360f74c$0$22531$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net> <711rjd.hce.ln@hunter.axlog.fr> <4361267a$0$22536$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: mailhost.axlog.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: s1.news.oleane.net 1130482871 22624 195.25.228.57 (28 Oct 2005 07:01:11 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@oleane.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 07:01:11 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6 (Windows/20050716) X-Accept-Language: fr, en In-Reply-To: <4361267a$0$22536$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net> Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:6023 Date: 2005-10-28T08:41:28+02:00 List-Id: Georg Bauhaus a écrit : >> If you are a newcommer and just want to have a look at what Ada looks >> like, you want a ready-to-run distribution. > > > Then just pick one (or use the one that comes with your OS). > If Windows programmers need a squarish colored window in > order to conceive of a compiler as a compiler, > then there is a business opportunity. Write another colorful GNAT > installer that promises ease of use. Use the MS trick. This has been > suggested many times, and if the installer is worth it, I'll be > among those who will consider bying at an adequate price. Yes, a nice looking ready-to-use distribution is very important for the promotion of Ada. That's why everyone was happy when Adacore announced a new public version, long after the oldish 3.15p. And then everyone was disappointed to see that it had been done in a way that would have an adverse effect for the goal of promoting Ada. Of course, anyone could do another one. AdaCore has the tools to do it in a minute, but they don't want to. Now, someone has to go into all the nasty details of making a nice distribution to replace AdaCore. Who will do it? I don't think anybody will - and I regret it. I would bet that if such a distribution did appear, AdaCore would revert its position in the next week. >> You download Gnat from ACT's site (with some suspiscion: why do these >> guys require me to fill a form), and then you discover that you are >> forced to use it for free software only. Immediate conclusion: "Oh, >> Ada is just for those dreamers of the FSF, nothing like an industrial >> language". Of course, these people do not make the difference between >> Ada, Gnat and Gnat-Pro. > > > (Isn't this mere speculation? So no conclusions to be draw from this.) What I mean is that I can't imagine a "use case" where a customer would chose to use AdaCore's services due to this policy, and would have not if a GMGPL distribution were available *from Adacore*. OTOH, I can imagine many "use cases" where this situation harms the promotion of Ada. -- --------------------------------------------------------- J-P. Rosen (rosen@adalog.fr) Visit Adalog's web site at http://www.adalog.fr