[comp.lang.forth] Market share

wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM (07/24/90)

> 	Economically, Forth is drawing more dollars this year than
> ever before. It just ain't happening in that ivory tower all you
> desktoppers and mainframers live in :-)
>
> 	The control programming market in the U.S. has been estimated
> at $2 billion dollars annually. (EDN) Estimates of Forth's share of
> that market range from 9% to 15%.

I guess us desktoppers are just going to have to be left out ...
But wait ... let's work out a few numbers.

100,000 Sun SPARCstation1's/year (and increasing) * $9000 base price
= $ 0.9 billion dollars.  Every one of them has a live Forth interpreter
in the boot PROM.

Let's look at it another way.  Last year Sun sold about $3 billion dollars
worth of iron, and Sun is still growing.  All future Sun machines will have
Forth in the boot PROM.

Oh, well, I guess jax is right.  We can ignore the desktop market.  :-)

Mitch

jax@well.sf.ca.us (Jack J. Woehr) (07/26/90)

wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM writes:

>> 	Economically, Forth is drawing more dollars this year than
>> ever before. It just ain't happening in that ivory tower all you
>> desktoppers and mainframers live in :-)

	Well, the intent of what I said was to avoid challenges from
PC Jockeys who say that they haven't seen many new apps in Forth lately.

>>
>> 	The control programming market in the U.S. has been estimated
>> at $2 billion dollars annually. (EDN) Estimates of Forth's share of
>> that market range from 9% to 15%.

	Pete "Wolfhugger" DaSilva challenges my numbers. The 2 billion
is from EDN in May(?) 1989. The 9% is from the same article. The 15%
is from ESP.

>I guess us desktoppers are just going to have to be left out ...
>Forth in the boot PROM.

	QED. Your boot PROMS are essentially an embedded control
project that makes the SUN run!

>Oh, well, I guess jax is right.  We can ignore the desktop market.  :-)

	Not really, but they can't ignore us either. Not if they
use, for example, Federal Express. Or drive a G.M. automobile.
Or read weather reports from NOAA. Or get satellite data from
NASA. Or use MCI telephone service. Or exercise on Walker EXSYS
exercise equipment ...

>Mitch

	See ya in Vancouver, ya big turkey! :-)

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