He was already off the scene when I started with the Ada community
seven years ago, but I would take a hypothetical stab at it:

That when the funds flow from the mandate dried up combined with lack
of understanding on the part of Ada vendors at the time for the
importance of the Web and willingness to invest in the popular opinion
of Ada, he got so frustrated that he went on to other more productive,
seemingly more potentially successful, and lucrative things.

I doubt that he realized how infamous he would become in the Ada world,
but sometimes the rewards for the villain and the hero end up being the
same, every one knows you and no one really cares, its just easier to
be the criminal so I don't expect things to change any time soon if
they haven't for the last six or seven years.

Change is difficult and the Ada community has had to endure a huge
shift from sucking on utters to being adults in the free choice world
of languages and it hasn't been easy (many left, some came and went and
most if not all are black an blue), but there has been a great war
fought by individuals (mostly as individuals which is an amazing thing
in itself and proof of Ada's worth!) that put in real efforts, be it
through SigAda, on the web, writing new and interesting packages.... So
there is real hope for the future.

That hope is in a shift to being more aggressive with recruiting and
supporting Ada individuals and efforts. I will try and write out my
full list of suggestions when I have a chance soon, but, I am going to
blast another message quick with my first suggestion.

David Botton
http://www.adapower.com


On Nov 24, 2004, at 5:24 PM, F. Britt Snodgrass wrote:

> That is what I have also assumed for many years -- he either leaves
> AdaHome like it is out of spite (for what?) or as some kind of
> twisted long term social experiment.