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"Kester, Rush W." <[log in to unmask]>
Wed, 7 Jun 2000 11:00:28 -0400
text/plain (118 lines)
Another forum for such a project would be the Ada Power web site.
I'm sure that David Botton would setup a "lab" area for what ever
"killer app" we should decide to develop collectively.  The lab area
also comes with an associated email "chat" forum.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 2:29 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Should we form an Ada Marketer's Association?
>
>
> >The only forum we have for those of us who are Ada enthusiasts
> >with an interest in promoting Ada is Team-Ada.
>
> There is of course c.l.a. Although it's noisy, there are
> quite often some stimulating discussions (aka flame wars)
> on the benefits of Ada over C/C++/Java etc that tend to
> overflow into other newsgroups. Because of that, I personally
> see c.l.a and Usenet in general as a better forum for
> *promoting* Ada than Team-Ada.
>
> >I am not one of those who thinks print ads make that much of
> a difference.
>
> They may not make a lot of difference, but they can certainly
> make some. It's also not necessarily specific adverts for Ada
> products that would help, but for those products that support
> Ada (e.g. Rational Rose) as well as other languages, to be a
> bit more upfront about their Ada support. I get the impression
> sometimes that certain companies are embarassed to admit that
> they support Ada.

While advertisments in print may not be the most cost effective
because of its high cost it is effective.  IMO, they can definitely
make a difference.  Lack of Marketing is one area which has held Ada
back.  Looking at the software companies that have become successful.
Success comes from a number of factors (applied in the right amounts,
times & places):
  a) the right product,
  b) energetic leadership that is effective in building a shared vision.
  c) strategic alliances/partnerships,
  d) good marketing,

IMO, Unix & C are successful because of a, b & c (and now d).
Microsoft and Java are successful because of all of these.
Linux is successful because of a, b, & c (and now d)
Early Ada suffered because we tried a & b with too little  c & d.

(see below for my rational)

I say this not because I'm a Microsoft, C, Unix, Java or Linux fan
(they all have good and bad points).

I say this because we can learn from them what it takes to be success
(and that when you stretch the law too far, the courts will eventually
catch up with you inspite of your economic power). :-)

> >We need more.   We need products written in Ada.  We need some of
> >the Team-Ada members submitting articles to IEEE Computer and other
> >IEEE publications.  We need papers published in the ACM publications.
> >We need stories of problems solved using Ada in Dr. Dobb's.
>
> These are all interesting points, but I am sure many of us
> are not paid to spend time writing papers and articles, and don't
> have the free time available to do it in. Perhaps people who have
> already written papers that may be of interest should consider
> submitting them to a wider range of journals?  I cannot remember
> the last time I saw an article promoting Ada in any IEE (not
> IEEE) journal, so perhaps that would be a place to start.
>
> John

MY RATIONAL

(Obviously not everyone will agree with my rational and it's not
something about which I want to start a debate on Team Ada.)
If you must, please do so via private email.

C came at a time when assembly language was used for most programming
and unique O/S's were built for each computer.  AT&T gave both away to
universities for use in training their computer science & engineering
students.

Microsoft is successful because it used all of these factors.  They
partnered with PC manufacturers to bundle MSDOS with their hardware,
leaving CPM, IBM & other DOS's behind.  With marketing they made everyone
aware that most computers had Microsoft inside.  They then tied (aka
integrated) their successful products (e.g. Windows) to their other
less successful products (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, &
Internet Explorer) and replaced Word Perfect, Visi-Calc, Lotus, Corel
Draw, D2B and Netscape in most consumers minds.  They also made their
products so that they could "import" user data from almost any
competitor's product while making "exporting" to other products or
importing by other products difficult.

Java came at a time when programmers & project managers were becoming
disillusioned with C & C++ and looking for an easy way for their
software to excute everywhere (including over the internet).  Sun also
made partners with others (most of whom were looking for a way to beat
Microsoft).  Sun also marketed Java heavily not just in software trade
press but in newspapers and magazines read by the general public.

Linux came at a time when PC users where looking for Open Software
solutions to problems perviously solved by proprietary O/S's or those
that could easily be scaled down from larger computers.  Linux developed
partnerships with many companies who found it easy to develop their
added value products.  Now Linux has reached a stage where it is being
marketed.

Rush Kester
Software Systems Engineer
AdaSoft at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.
email:  [log in to unmask]
phone: (240) 228-3030 (live M-F 9:30am-4:30pm, voicemail anytime)
fax:   (240) 228-6779
http://hometown.aol.com/rwkester/myhomepage/index.html

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