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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3a4656a5edc0dab4 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public Path: controlnews3.google.com!news1.google.com!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!01cc3b7c!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Richard Riehle" From: "Richard Riehle" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <409F69CB.8020604@noplace.com> <40A0BDF7.5030502@noplace.com> Subject: Re: Ada used in General Aviation (GA) applications? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 00:07:53 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.217.152 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net 1084320473 66.81.217.152 (Tue, 11 May 2004 17:07:53 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 17:07:53 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: controlnews3.google.com comp.lang.ada:459 Date: 2004-05-12T00:07:53+00:00 List-Id: > You could ask, but the answer is "No - but we'll let you pay to develop > it and you can wait a year to get it." You're absolutely right on this > score. *NOBODY* is going to pay a vendor and wait for the privilege of > using Ada. They're going to select their board/chip and they're going to > use whatever compilers/development environments are available for that > hardware. If Ada isn't sitting on the shelf waiting to be bought, then > Ada doesn't play. Ada compiler publishers have been dwelling in the DoD world for such a long time that any tendency toward entrepreneurialism has vanished. I talked to one DoD contractor's management a few years ago and suggested they had an opportunity to enter a marketplace (not with Ada, but other skills) and become successful in that market. Their response, "But who is going to fund it?" There is a risk associated with any new venture. Entrepreneurs tend to be driven by their vision, their dedication to that vision, and their unwavering confidence that it is a vision with commercial value. At one time, before the wimps took charge, Aonix seemed almost ready to pursue that kind of vision. Among those who have grown up in the DoD contracting world, courage seems in short supply. Some of the people who build tools for Ada don't use their own Ada compilers and tools for building their other products. I don't need to identify those companies. They know who they are. However, they don't have a sense of how ashamed they should be of their lack of vision, lack of courage, and lack of entrepreneurial will. "We will only build a product if someone asks for it," is not a particularly good business strategy. One can keep a company alive, for a while, using that strategy, but it is not a sustainable posture. Entrepreneurs are constantly trying to find new markets, not simply cling to existing ones. There have been a few examples of risk takers in the Ada industry. RR Software comes to mind. Meridian comes to mind. OC Systems. There are a few others. The fact that these have not been a resounding success has acted as a deterrent for others. One of the companies that had a chance to make Ada popular, Rational, flubbed that opportunity. I don't know if it was inept management, lack of courage, or just being too busy to put any energy into seeking commercial success for Ada. Whatever it was, the language product that got them started, Ada, seems to have vanished from Rational's main marketing thrust. The only companies that actively and energetically market their Ada products, at present, seem to be ACT and DDC-I. Every month, I get a newsletter from DDC-I that updates me on what they are doing, customer news, product news, and even a little column by a guest writer. No other Ada compiler publisher takes the trouble to do anything like that. If you want to be on their distribution, I suggest you send them an email. They are quite easy to deal with on such matters. Marin is correct when he suggests that the only way to make Ada successful is for people to being creating products that use it. We can whine about the fact that more people are not choosing it, we can complain about the stupidity of the LM management on JSF, we can wring our hands about the downside of abrogating the mandate. None of that is worth much. What is worth a lot is for those who know and love Ada to build commercial products using it. Sell your shrink-wrapped Ada application to the general marketplace. Let people know you used Ada for development. Once we have those kind of successes, Ada can stand on its own and will be recognized for the value it actually provides. Richard Riehle