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"Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
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"Kester, Rush W." <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 21 Aug 2000 11:14:07 -0700
Reply-To:
"Robert C. Leif, Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
"Robert C. Leif, Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]>
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From: Bob Leif
To: Rush Kester

You wrote, "What would you say are the factors that allow these individuals
with full-time jobs to succeed?  How can we foster these in the
Ada community?"

1) Read my articles on Commercializing Ada.
2) Assist in developing a livable license to compensate Ada developers for
their work. We must use the lesson of providing the sources from the Free
Software culture; however, in order to commercialize our work, we must also
protect our intellectual property.
3) We need an ASIS tool to equitably divide the royalties.

After this we can take advantage of the change in software development
paradigm afforded by Ada and software engineering technology. Ada software
can be created in a distributed environment by independent authors. This
will greatly reduce the up-front capital expenditures.

"I'm curious to know why you feel these database products didn't
succeed."

The FIRM database is controlled by Lockheed Martin. AdaSAGE if from DOE INEL
(INEEL), which at a vital time was managed by Lockheed Martin.

"One good thing to note is that some organizations (within the
gov't or gov't funded) are extremely interested in technology
transfer.  I have had the good fortune of working as a contractor
for two: NASA and JHU/APL.  Both organizations have active
programs that encourage and support indivuals who develop
software using gov't funding and want to enhance it for
commercial purposes."

NASA is a government agency, not a defense contractor. JHU/APL is controlled
by a university.

R. C. Leif, “SIGAda ‘98, Workshop: How do We Expedite the Commercial Use of
Ada?.” Ada letters XIX, No 1 pp. 28-39 (1999).

R. C. Leif, “Ada Developers Cooperative License (Draft) Version 0.3”, Ada
letters XIX, No 1 pp. 97-107 (1999).

Robert C. Leif, “SIGAda 99, Workshop: How do We Expedite the Commercial Use
of Ada?” Ada Letters XX pp19-26 (2000).

-----Original Message-----
From: Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Kester, Rush W.
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2000 6:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Factors to help Ada Succeed in the Commerical Market?


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert C. Leif, Ph.D. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 8:47 PM
> To: Kester, Rush W.; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: Market for Commercial Software in Ada
>
>
> From: Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.
> To: Rush Kester
>
> As for individuals with full-time jobs being precluded from
> creating start-ups, the present San Diego economy includes
> many very wealth individuals who found the time. There is
> also the SBIR route.

What would you say are the factors that allow these individuals
with full-time jobs to succeed?  How can we foster these in the
Ada community?

> I might note that a major obstacle to entrepreneurship in Ada has
> been the nature of the defense industry. We have had two
> excellent database products written in Ada. Neither has been
> successfully commercialized. The present failure to benefit
> the public by making available to them reliable software products
> based on Ada technology provides should be a significant argument
> against extra funding for the DoD. Ada is an excellent
> counter-example to the  justification of DoD funding based on
> technology transfer to the consumer economy.

I'm curious to know why you feel these database products didn't
succeed.

I can suggest the following:
A) difficulty of bring non-classified, general purpose software
   developed for DoD, out of DoD's "cloke of secrecy"
B) failure to recogize the value of the product
C) failure to properly market the product
D) unwillingness to compete with database giants like IBM,
   Oracle, Sybase
D) satisfaction of the developers with their work on DoD projects

One good thing to note is that some organizations (within the
gov't or gov't funded) are extremely interested in technology
transfer.  I have had the good fortune of working as a contractor
for two: NASA and JHU/APL.  Both organizations have active
programs that encourage and support indivuals who develop
software using gov't funding and want to enhance it for
commercial purposes.

Rush Kester

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