[comp.ai] you CAN get funding for expert systems activities

barry_night-person_stevens@cup.portal.com (10/17/87)

It's true that the companies started around the large, LISP-based AI machines
have not done well.

I have recently finished a survey of 179 companies buying and using expert s
system tools. Also studied - several vendor companies for expert system
products. In short, the big machines aren't what they want -- that's why
the companies didn't do well.

Computer science-y things arent what they want, either. They are using
systems most that are:


        simple to use, and in English (not in PROLOG)
        easy to use to access databases, both in PCs and in mainframes
        easy to interconnect, and to integrate with their corporate data, pgms

The smaller, simpler systems are doing well.