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: f849b,5aa763fe62c20184 X-Google-Attributes: gidf849b,public X-Google-Thread: 115aec,5aa763fe62c20184 X-Google-Attributes: gid115aec,public X-Google-Thread: 114f47,9a16bb5c96f2f36a X-Google-Attributes: gid114f47,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,5aa763fe62c20184 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Jim Kingdon Subject: Re: Pratt & Whitney's Embedded Software - CMM Level 3! Date: 1999/04/22 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 469581695 References: <371B6EC8.36B9C247@pwfl.com> <7fftel$6po@drn.newsguy.com> <371B9A5E.2804AC27@pwfl.com> <371E21B3.7C7616FD@pwfl.com> <371E9BA0.7F070ACC@well.com> <371F3734.F47236E2@pwfl.com> X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com X-Trace: news.panix.com 924794435 27057 166.84.0.232 (22 Apr 1999 15:20:35 GMT) Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC NNTP-Posting-Date: 22 Apr 1999 15:20:35 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.realtime,comp.arch.embedded,comp.software.config-mgmt Date: 1999-04-22T15:20:35+00:00 List-Id: > Its pretty much a conglomerate of stuff that is by its very nature > multi-user/multi-platform and typically calls for a lot of custom > support and hand-holding. Well, that might be an argument for open source rather than an argument against it. The big problem with trying to sell open source software via support contracts is that most users don't really need/want the support. But if the nature of the product is that most users will need some customization and help, then that particular problem isn't as bad (now, it isn't really the way to get massive numbers of sites using it, but it might work out for sites which want to deal with this). For an example of this business model, see http://www.onshore-timesheet.com/ - this used to be a non-open-source product but they made it open source because they figured most of the money was for the customization and other services rather than the license anyway. Or http://www.zope.org/ is perhaps a better example (in which it was, interestingly, the venture capitalists who decided on open source when the technical people in the startup had been scared to take the plunge). Too early to tell whether this will be a financial success for onShore or the Zope guys, but it strikes me as a workable model. Bringing it back to P&W and the Pictures-to-Code program, it is quite clear that someone outside P&W needs to get a bee in their bonnet and decide they want to make this happen (with $$$ or some other suitable incentive). Has anyone asked Ada Core (http://www.gnat.com/)? No idea whether they would be interested, but it seems like a conceivable fit.