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=1.4 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,9cccf6ef6149fdaa X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Marin D. Condic" Subject: Re: Ada Date: 2000/01/03 Message-ID: <3870DEED.4744AE18@quadruscorp.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 567814818 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <38620350.48F8FC08@gecm.com> <386216c3.172629337@news.draper.com> <38690E47.7DBDC2D1@quadruscorp.com> <84j55h$efm$1@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net> <386F7856.26134B3E@quadruscorp.com> <84o0ku$ua2$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <386F9D7E.B6DD06B9@quadruscorp.com> <84p07r$b32$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Organization: Quadrus Corporation X-Sender: "Marin D. Condic" (Unverified) X-Server-Date: 3 Jan 2000 17:39:55 GMT Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-01-03T17:39:55+00:00 List-Id: Robert Dewar wrote: > Part of the reason I think this makes less sense than you > think is that these days students and other likely consumers > of such a package expect to pay $0 for it, and are not about > to go and plunk down a credit card at Fry's or anywhere else > to buy a package of this kind! > You may be right. The only way to really settle the question is to attempt to do it and see if it sells. That can be pretty expensive. But do keep in mind that Micro$oft is out there selling shrink-wrapped versions of Visual C++, etc. and people *do* plunk down credit cards to buy that. One can debate how profitable this might be - MS may be subsidizing their development environment in order to keep development for Windows going on. Its hard to say without a look at the books and I wouldn't trust rumors or corporate statements on the subject. But certainly people do buy VC++ so why might they not buy a *better* environment that was wrapped around an Ada compiler? > But if you do want to create something, I think the delivery > HAS to be free and electronic. I don't think you will get > anywhere > with a shrink wrapped box at Fry's. > I wouldn't write off electronic delivery - e-commerce is certainly booming in growth right now. Fry's may have to go that route themselves just to stay in business. But remember that when you go into Fry's you will see development kits for other languages there on the shelves. Somebody must be making a buck doing that - is there a reason that Ada can't be one of those players? And a big advantage to being on a shelf in a computer store is that people who may never have had any knowlege or interest in Ada might happen to see it and be intrigued enough to try it out. My desire is to see that Ada experiences growth in its application for commercial efforts. I think that is a goal most of us in this newsgroup would agree on. I think that a weakness Ada has when compared to some other languages is that there isn't a one-stop source where you can pick up everything you need for serious development. There are lots of things you can gather from all over the net and possibly cobble together a development environment with everything you need. If your garden variety developer were able to get the whole ball of wax in one location with everything glued together in a consistent manner, it might encourage more use. MDC -- ============================================================= Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - 1.800.555.3393 1015-116 Atlantic Boulevard, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 http://www.quadruscorp.com/ m c o n d i c @ q u a d r u s c o r p . c o m Visit my web site at: http://www.mcondic.com/ "Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin." -- Allan Meltzer, Economist =============================================================