Re: Embedded Keynote Speaker Mentions Ada

[8f27iw6z@canada.com (Tom)]

"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message news:<SpmdncOlcJjV1M7cRVn-iA@megapath.net>...
> "Tom" <8f27iw6z@canada.com> wrote in message
> ...
> > Where do you think that they might be getting that idea?  When I was
> > doing a quick search for information on Ada I put "Ada compilers" in
> > for the search term on google. I found a fair number of the most
> > popular web sites were not updated in the last several years. It does
> > not distill a lot of confidence in a computer language when the so
> > called enthusiasts can't even keep their web sites up to date.  If
> > this was not bad enough one of the Windows compiler distributors did
> > not even mention WindowsXP. The last operating system that they say
> > works with their compiler is Win95.  Come on, if the enthusiasts can't
> > stay up to date then what chance is there of convincing someone new to
> > Ada that it is not 'ageing' technology.
> 
> It's unfortunate that we've gotten to a point where website "churn" is more
> important than the information that they contain. Most information on Ada
> *hasn't* changed much since the completion of Ada 95, so there is no need to
> change it. But that doesn't make what it says any less relevant.
> 
> I know that there are a number of marketing "fluff" pages on our site
> (www.rrsoftware.com) that we haven't updated in years -- nothing on them has
> needed change. The reasons for using Ada haven't changed; what benefits our
> products give haven't changed; our company history hasn't changed -- why
> change these pages? Just to keep some web designers employed? I'd rather
> spend the effort on the products.

How do I know that you are creating new products if you don't tell me?
Your company may be working on the next big revolution in Ada
programming but if your company doesn't advertise what it is doing I
will ever know.
 
> I know that our site contains pages describing our Ada 83 compilers. These
> haven't been updated since 1994, and are of course obsolete technology. But
> a few people still want them, and it costs us nothing to keep them in the
> catalog. We don't bother to update those pages, for obvious reasons, and
> it's fairly likely that someone would find "Windows 95" references there.
> 
> The full name of our flagship Ada 95 product is "Janus/Ada 95 Professional
> for Microsoft Windows 95/NT", which is unfortunate these days. That name
> came about because of a - ahem - correspondence with Microsoft's attorneys.
> Essentially, we're not allowed to use a better name (that is, leaving off
> the OS designators), and listing all of the options is just too unwieldy
> "Janus/Ada 95 Professional for Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003".
> In any case, it would be a bad idea to change the name until there is a new
> release, so we're going to have to live with it for a while.

Well as I see it mentioning it works with the other operating systems
once on your company site and explaining the name of the product on
one line would fix any confusions. I am relatively new to Ada, so I
want to make sure that a product will work with my computer before I
shell out $2000 or more on a program.
 
> I'm not quite sure why this suddenly is in issue (this is the second time in
> two days that someone has mentioned this); the name has been rather obsolete
> for more than 5 years (since Windows 98 and Windows 2000 came out), and no
> one has complained. Sigh.

Up until I heard from you that your product works with Windows XP I
was assuming that it didn't. I may have read too many software licence
agreements. I always assumed with software the rule was caveat emptor,
let the buyer beware.

Yours truly
Thomas