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"Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
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Jeff Burns <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 12:20:39 -0800
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From:
Hal Hart <[log in to unmask]>
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Tucker Taft <[log in to unmask]>, Franco Gasperoni <[log in to unmask]>, "SIGAda'99 Conf. Comm." <[log in to unmask]>, SIGAda Officers <[log in to unmask]>
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JEFF:  I am most curious to hear what up-and-comers Tucker Taft and
Franco Gasperoni, whom we have tapped to be SIGAda'99 Conference Program
Committee Co-Chairs (and are therefore responsible for focusing the
theme of SIGAda'99), think about your thoughts.  --Hal

Jeff Burns wrote:

> Hal,
>
> The DOD's stated strategy these days is to focus limited resources to
> be able
> to sustain two major wars at the same time.  Ada positioning should be
>
> focussed likewise.  We don't have the resources to take on C and C++,
> etc. on
> all fronts all the time.  We can make more progress through a single
> strong
> over arching position from which the other fronts can be chipped away
> at.
> On the basis of the tagline and slogan suggestions, I'm not clear what
> the
> intended position is for Ada.  It's just "better" at everything, but
> that's
> gonna be a hard sell to make to people who already believe in the
> other
> languages they're currently using.
>
> If you could have non-Ada software engineers and program managers
> think of
> just one thing when they think of Ada what would that one thing be?
> What do
> you think that one thing is now?
>
> This is what market positioning is about.  You try to establish or
> fill a
> market position where there ain't nobody yet or where you are clearly
> so much
> better than whatever else is there.  Ada has several unique qualities,
> but
> what position can it take in the market place? Look for the opening.
>
> Ada may be better at real time, but C is the major player there and
> well
> established. It's an uphill battle to establish Ada as better than C
> for real
> time.
>
> In distributed systems isn't CORBA the standard for distributed
> objects and
> C++ the most established language?  Again, I'm not saying Ada isn't
> better,
> I'm just looking at this from a marketing viewpoint.  C++ is strongly
> positioned in distributed systems and will be tough to budge.
>
> Ada can take on these markets, but it needs to do so from a position
> of
> strength.  And that's why I think Ada's best shot is to be thought of
> as the
> safety critical language.  IMHO, Ada has the most credible position
> carved out
> and compelling stories to tell through its extensive use in
> safety-critical
> DOD apps, as well as apps for nuclear plants, commercial aircraft,
> trains,
> etc.
>
> Note that positioning is not the same as themes or slogans or tag
> lines.
> Those are supportive promotional elements for specific uses that
> should all
> reinforce the position you want to establish.
>
> One merry marketeer's opinion, fwiw.  I opened my mouth because it
> looked to
> me like implementations were being proposed without an underlying
> strategy.
> If this is too nit-picky, let me know and I'll go back to lurking ;-).
>
> Jeff
>
> -----------------------------
> Jeff Burns, Director of Marketing
> GrammaTech, Inc.
> One Hopkins Place
> Ithaca, NY  14850
> ph: 607-273-7340
> fax: 607-273-8752
> e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> www:  http://www.grammatech.com
> ==============================
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hal Hart <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tuesday, November 24, 1998 2:41 PM
> Subject: Re: Ada market viability
>
> >Jeff Burns (GrammaTech) wrote:
> >>As a marketeer, I think that "Safety Critical" is Ada's strongest
> possible
> >>position in the market and this should be stated explicitly in the
> tag line.
> >>
> >>Safety critical is a compelling and justifiable position relative to
> other
> >>languages that Ada is uniquely qualified to fill.
> >>...
> >
> >Realize that at least the following 4 attributes are being hailed as
> >"unique" qualifications of Ada (and there could be others with strong
>
> >claims to uniqueness, including "large,", "complex," & "software
> >engineered," although these are pretty much orthogonal to the list of
> 4):
> > - safety critical
> > - reliable
> > - real-time
> > - distributed
> >
> >I think our Ada-promotion strategy should recognize and advocate
> Ada's
> >strengths when any of these are important.
> >
> >As Jeff points out, the first two correlate well, but the other
> attributes
> >are relatively independent, standing on their own as Ada advantages
> even if
> >the others don't matter to a particular application.
> >
> >As a note, the SIGAda'99 conference theme (Tucker Taft & Franco
> Gasperoni,
> >PC Co-Chairs) is going with "real-time" and "distributed" to sharpen
> >(narrow) the focus in the conference to areas perceived to be Ada's
> unique
> >strengths, an intention shift from previous all-comers themes.  (And
> Ada
> >Europe's conference theme  is always about "reliable software
> >technologies," naturally bringing in "safety critical.")
> >
> >   --hh
> >

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