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: 103376,577c9f9c0cdd76d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: tmoran@bix.com Subject: Re: Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Date: 1999/11/10 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 546991963 References: X-Complaints-To: abuse@pacbell.net X-Trace: typhoon-sf.snfc21.pbi.net 942258200 206.170.2.214 (Wed, 10 Nov 1999 10:23:20 PST) Organization: SBC Internet Services NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 10:23:20 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-11-10T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: >If ACT were to inflate their price sufficiently high, and I noticed that >a lot of people are willing to pay that high price, then I would quit my >job at Averstar, and start a business that undercuts ACT's price. I >could do that because the sources are available (and, oh by the way, >they are quite well commented). Anybody who knows something about >compilers could do the same. Exactly. When you decide whether or not to quit your job and start a business supporting GNAT, you must take into account that a lot of other people could/would also do it. Once an ACT customer decided ACT was too expensive, they would look at *all* the other folks offering support. They'd also look again at all the competing compiler vendors. You would have to charge not too much more than your cheapest believable competitor, and of course substantially less than ACT, the known quantity (who could, of course, cut their prices, or introduce multiple levels of support to entice the stingy). You have to devote up front time and money to becoming *very* familiar with GNAT and to advertising your existence and competence, and hope that a sufficient revenue stream over the years will follow. This is quite a bit of risk, with limited possibilities of gain, and a lot of potential ACT competitors would decide (have decided?) to keep their day job. Yes, ACT is limited in how high they could inflate prices, but even with open source, not a lot of believable competitors (zero so far) are easily going to spring up. Are there a lot of competitors to other companies pursuing the same business plan?