Re: The state of ML: multi-threaded, saved state and support platforms

[Sylvain Le Gall <sylvain@le-gall.net>]

Hello

On 11-06-2009, Lucas Dixon <ldixon@inf.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> Richard Jones wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 03:04:21PM +0100, Lucas Dixon wrote:
>
>>> 3. Lastly, can you help me get a good picture of the state of support
>>> for ML systems:
>>>
>>> OCaml: is this still supported by INRIA? what is the level of support?
>> 
>> What level of support are you looking for? 
>
> I was wondering who pays for the documentation to be kept up to date,
> bug fixes, and implements new features.I saw that there is an OCaml 
> Consortium: http://caml.inria.fr/consortium/index.en.html
> Is this INRIA or something else? Is this the source of funding that 
> supports OCaml? or is there INRIA backing also? Does anyone know how 
> many people are employed? I'm interested in how to support functional 
> programming environments. What level of financial support is needed?
>

Caml Consortium is INRIA. If I remember correctly the overall funding of
the consortium help INRIA to pay for a half time job. Most of the people
working on OCaml are INRIA Cristal/Gallium team or former team member
that do things when they are needed (TM). It includes bug fixes, new
release and implementation of very specific features that need to have a
language level support.

My company, OCamlCore is member of the consortium.

>> OCaml users will give you
>> support through the ocaml-beginners mailing list which is active and
>> most questions are answered within a few hours.  If you want "call
>> someone on the phone and drop everything" support then you'll have to
>> pay (a lot).
>
> Are there organisations that offer OCaml support over the phone? Or
> would that be consultancy rates for academics who specialise in OCaml?
> The OCaml Consortium offers: 3000 Euros for a minimal support to Caml, 
> 10000 Euros or higher for more. But doesn't give much details - has 
> anyone ever purchased this?
>

My company (OCamlCore) provide services around OCaml. It can include
"support over the phone" if some company need it.

I think that "support" in Caml Consortium term, is something not user
oriented (like "10 bugs corrected in a year" or "10 hour of hotline + 1
day of training"). This is mostly a place where company can provide
financial "support" to the INRIA team developing the language and in
exchange receive special licensing option for OCaml. 

Regards,
Sylvain Le Gall