Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dialogic!paul
From: paul@dialogic.UUCP (Paul Bennett)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: C++ 2.0 pricing and licensing policy
Message-ID: <463@dialogic.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jul 89 15:48:13 GMT
References: <1989Jun30.074346.15350@lth.se> <264@pink.ACA.MCC.COM> <8723@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <272@pink.ACA.MCC.COM>
Reply-To: paul@dialogic.UUCP (Paul Bennett)
Organization: Dialogic Corp., Parsippany, NJ
Lines: 42

In article <272@pink.ACA.MCC.COM> rfg@pink.aca.mcc.com.UUCP (Ron Guilmette) writes:
	[ lines deleted ]
>I think that AT&T has correctly realized (unfortunately for us) that C++
>will become widely adopted and firmly established no mater what they do
>(within limits).  What other direction can all us C programmers go in?
>Is any C programmer going to switch to Ada?  Not likely.  The culture gap
>is too big and the goals of C vs. Ada are too different.
>

I think you got it in one, Ron! AT&T know how to make money. Also, the way
I see it is that their view is to let third parties do the porting and support
for unpopular and "non-AT&T approved" architectures like the 386 :-).

This is all well and good, but what do WE (i.e the people who want C++ 2.0 
NOW !) do about it ? It seems we have but one choice - use G++. Now I am quite
prepared to do this, I've used GNUemacs for a while and it's great, and I
support the goals of the FSF - but I need a little help. Sure, I could figure
out all the nitty-gritty that it takes to get the compiler to REALY work on my
platform, but surely this is re-inventing the wheel. My point is, can we all
come together, and use the net to colectively support G++ on a number of
architectures ? RMS has always said that free software would generate an
industry of support consultants - well, I'dlike to find some right now.

It may be that this is already happening, and I'm missing it - if so, could
someone PLEASE enlighten me!. I'd be interested to know what the FSF think
about this - they seem to have been rather quiet. Also, I wonder if the 
range of machines/OS's is too great to do this effectively. I would guess that
the main contenders are SUN and 386/System V (my appologies to all those 
offended by this - let me know what you are using).

In summary, then, what I'm saying is: can we put an effective support service
in place, that will allow us to use G++ commercially (i.e under deadlines) ?
I'd really like to try and do this - C++ is very effective at reducing software
costs, but ONLY if we have good tools and support for them. This posting is 
intended to provoke a discussion, and see if we can get someting to happen.


-- 
Paul Bennett, Dialogic Corp.			VOX: (201) 866-4319 x 194
EMAIL:	paul@dialogic.UUCP  (..!uunet!dialogic!paul)
SNAIL:	Dialogic Corp, 129 Littleton Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054
"A quote, a quote - my kingdom for a quote ..."