It has been said there is no such thing as a 'true' Free Software business. Blue GNU interviewed the Ada Core Technologies team to learn about the company that has been a 'true' Free Software business for over 20 years. Ada Core is one of a few businesses listed as such by the Free Software Foundation/GNU Project.

Note: In studying the company's website, I mistakenly thought that Gnat Pro must be non-Free software, but the ACT team's response helps to clarify the issues for our readers.

First off, What is Ada, and in what kinds of applications is it most commonly used? (For non-programmers in the audience)

Ada is a modern programming language that was first created in 1983 and was recently ratified by ISO for its third revision. It is primarily used in large, long-lived applications where reliability, efficiency and safety are critical, such as commercial and defense aircraft avionics, air traffic control, railroad systems, financial services and medical devices. To learn more about the language peruse the Ada Information Clearing House at: http://www.adaic.org

Can you tell me a little bit about the Executive team's involvement in the development of Ada?

Several members of AdaCore’s executive staff were involved with the original GNAT Ada development effort at NYU. See: http://www.adacore.com/home/company/exec_team.

What events led up to the launch of AdaCore Technologies?

In 1994, at the completion of the GNAT Ada project at NYU, members of the GNAT Ada development team founded AdaCore Technologies.

AdaCore was the first company to launch full language support for Ada95, the second ISO revision of the language. AdaCore developed a full Ada compile system to support the language based on the GNU technology, called GNAT. This technology was and is still made available to the GNU community free of charge. What AdaCore provides its customers is a production quality version of this product named GNAT Pro along with top notch support for the product in terms of bug fixes and enhancement requests, as well as the industry’s foremost Ada language expertise to help customers better understand the language and design their applications.

How big, in terms of employees, is AdaCore?

AdaCore has approximately 55 employees worldwide. AdaCore has North American headquarters in New York and European headquarters in Paris.

The GNU Project lists AdaCore Technologies as developing Free Software exclusively. Is that still true, or have things changed over the years? I ask because the website refers to "commercial open" technology, yet GNAT Pro pricing appears to be on a "per seat" basis. Is GNAT Pro Free Software?

GNAT Pro is free software. However, it is important to understand that the “Free” in Free Software has nothing to do with cost, it is about the freedom of the license. Also, "commercial" is not a synonym for "non-free." That confuses two entirely different issues. A program is commercial if it is developed as a business activity. A commercial program can be free or non-free, depending on its license. The two questions, what sort of entity developed the program and what freedom its users have, are independent.

AdaCore is the original creator of GNAT and the primary maintainer of the product. Some versions are available free of charge. However, customers typically want top quality support beyond just free software. AdaCore provides this top level support via a supported version of the GNAT product named GNAT Pro along with an industry-leading staff of Ada language experts. This all adds up to our customers being successful in their development efforts.

Conditional Question: If GNAT Pro is non-Free Software, then why is AdaCore still listed as developing Free Software exclusively?

Again, GNAT Pro is Free Software.

The million-dollar question is, how does a business survive - never mind thrive - "selling" Free Software? Aren't you giving away the farm?

Selling Free Software is a perfectly viable business model. AdaCore has been growing at a rate of approximately 30% per year. This is due mostly to word-of-mouth about the incredible added value we provide behind the GNAT Pro product, in terms of correcting problems, adding features and such, as well as the expertise we provide to help our customers successfully use the Ada language for their development projects.

How does your model compare to that of, say, MySQL, a company that dual-licenses its software?

We use dual licensing in the context of our academic program, but for our commercial customers we use only Free Software licensing.

What is unique to Ada Core's situation that makes Free Software development a viable business model?

Free Software is a viable model in many cases. AdaCore’s model is not unique. Just like Microsoft, we sell copyrighted software with support and a license allowing limited copying. The only difference is that the license gives much greater freedom to the recipient, which is a commercial advantage for our customers. Obviously, our model is also heavily support-based.

What trends do you see, away from or towards, a greater focus on Free Software businesses?

There is a clear trend towards greater use of Free Software licenses (e.g., in the wide adoption of GNU/Linux systems)

Anything you would like to add or that you think our audience should know?

We strongly urge you to check out The Free Software Foundation website, which should clarify many of the questions you have regarding “Free Software” in general: http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html.

And they said it couldn't be done.