Re: Improving Ada's image - Was: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics

["Richard Riehle" <adaworks@earthlink.net>]

"Per Dalgas Jakobsen" <i@hate.spam> wrote in message
news:40b9c99e$0$268$edfadb0f@dread16.news.tele.dk...

> Instead of advertising for Ada in software magazines, web-sites, etc. I
> believe that Ada needs to get an "image-lift" at executive level. Imagine
if
> we could get to the point when project managers are suggesting C/C++ and
the
> executive asks: "Why not use Ada?" :-p

Sadly, there is no money available in the Ada community for advertising
or public relations.   The money we did have was squandered on silly
posters and ineffective advertising about the time Ada 95 appeared.  The
people charged with making the advertising decisions were inexperienced
in the ways of advertising and the ads had no appreciable effect.

Advertising is not a bad approach, but it needs to be done by people who
understand the product, the audience, and the mission.  It also needs to be
done by people who understand how to make an impact with advertising.
Just as there are lots of ineffective software managers, there is no
shortage
of stupid advertising executives.   To paraphrase Einstein, the two things
without boundary are space and human stupidity.

Actually Per, your idea sparks an image that might be an interesting Ad if
there were money for it.    A group of people sitting in a conference room,
a whiteboard with the words Java, C++, C#, and Eiffel written on it, and
someone in the meeting asking, "Why not just use Ada?"

Such an ad, place in the right journals would spark the debate once again,
if it were widely enough published.

But then, we have wasted all our money and resources on useless stuff so
there
is none left to produce such an ad.

Richard Riehle