david@ssi-h.pegasus.com (David Phillips) (06/15/90)
As promised, here's a compilation of the responses I've received re my newscast: OVERALL WINNER: Free Software Foundation - GNU Emacs, GCC, etc. This was the runaway winner - about 90% of the responses picked this one. Aside from being free, the hot points were ANSI compatibility, integrated design, and speed - both compile time and runtime. HONORABLE MENTION: Saber. While only a few responses mentioned this one, the tone and syntax of those responses made me really curious about the package. I'm now very interested in finding out more, so if anyone can steer me to a rep or address, much thanks in advance (I can't be too specific about these responses, because they were caught up in an overly fast attempt to learn more about email - yup, I read 'em and promply lost 'em. Sorry.) OTHER MENTIONS: Metaware and LPI. Initial responses for each of these packages were from sales reps with watchful eyes on the newsnet. Subsequent responses really appreciated Metaware's stuff for speed. Frankly, other responses about LPI were not so appreciative, but there could be installation problems or whatever, so we'll focus on the plusses. IN GENERAL: I was suprised at the heat Sun took for its compiler prices and for the quality of its bundled compiler software. Nearly 80% of the 30-odd people that responded (thanks, by the way, everybody) bashed Sun about one or the other. It seems that, as people become better informed about just what is available out there, the big guys are going to have to start keeping up. Nice thought.