It's not really MS marketing hype I'm looking at.  It's Microsoft's
movements and partnerships.  For example:
  Microsoft and Time Warner - Cable TV converters
  Microsoft and General Motors - Auto PCs
  Microsoft and Casio, HP, Symbol, and Compaq - Pocket PCs, including
    new industrial-strength lines with barcode scanners
  Microsoft and General Electric - Home Networking and Computing (including
    microwaves, toasters, and so on)
  Microsoft and Lockheed - CVN-77 Aircraft Carrier

Looks like Microsoft is crossing into a lot of embedded territory here.

I understand your need to not disclose proprietary data and issues,
including future plans, but it looks to me like the Ada community will
really be missing the boat if compilers for Windows CE 3.x don't emerge
very, very soon.  Without them, Ada moves from an "also ran" to a "never
ran" in these domains ... while Microsoft already has free (at least they
gave them away at Tech Ed 2000) Visual Basic and Visual C++ cross-compilers
and debuggers for these platforms.

Rick
====================================
Richard Conn, Principal Investigator
Reuse Tapestry


-----Original Message-----
From: Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 3:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Ada is very sick and getting worse


Rick,

I think you mistakes MS marketing hype with the real world. Have you seen
the latest figures from market research in EmbSys? How big a share has MS
tools & tech? I do not think there is a need to "panic" for Ada or other SW
Engineering focused folks. Are ..anyone doing something about it..? Yep, you
might even be surprised; but we do not run around and brag about it -
actually my company's policy is not to reveal anything externally of what we
are doing or how.  I believe that other companies have the same policy.

/soren
Soeren Henssel-Rasmussen
Nokia Mobile Phones

 -- Hi, Everyone,
 --
 -- To kind of see where I have been going with this discussion on standards
 -- and Microsoft technologies, consider this:
 --
 --  1. We all know Ada is very sick in terms of people adopting it.  It
seems   to
 --     have found its niche in the embedded world (like our airplanes) and
not
 --     much else.
 --  2. Microsoft is entering the embedded world big-time with its embedded
visual
 --     tools.  Devices like Auto PCs (for automobiles), Pocket PCs
(including
 --     ruggedized versions with bar scanners), and the like are emerging,
and
 --     these are being programmed in Visual Basic and Visual C++.  These
are  places
 --     where Ada could be making inroads.
 --
 -- Is anyone doing something about this situation?  Are there any Ada
compilers  for
 -- the Windows CE platform?  Are there any plans for such compilers?
 --
 -- I'm personnally finding Microsoft technologies to meet more and more of
my  needs.
 -- This is translating into less and less of a need to continue with Ada.
The  material
 -- I've offered this group (the Tech Ed 2000 trip report and Windows 2000
Launch report)
 -- shows just some of the directions in which Microsoft is moving, and some
of  these
 -- directions are areas where Ada used to be a prime candidate.
 --
 -- Rick
 -- ====================================
 -- Richard Conn, Principal Investigator
 -- Reuse Tapestry