Interactive Software Services Ltd (“I.S.S.”) will cease trading on 31st October 2024. We would like to thank everyone for your custom, over the years.
I.S.S. has served the Fortran community as a commercial GUI toolset supplier for 36 years, but the time has come to move on. The commercial Fortran marketplace has seen an inexorable contraction in recent years. Notable compiler vendors such as Absoft and Lahey have left the market. Intel have moved to free of charge compilers via their oneAPI toolset. GNU’s gfortran has grown in popularity and NVIDIA offer their compiler free of charge on Linux. For good or bad, the Fortran world has predominantly shifted towards non-commercial tools. In this context, the difficult decision has been made to close I.S.S.
It is clearly not good news, but I wonder if part of their problem was the move away from software you install on your computer (excluding cell phones), as opposed to using through a web interface. That is not a Fortran-specific trend.
All mainstream computer languages have mature opensource compilers, so Fortran is just moving there as well. I think that’s a net benefit to the users. I certainly have always preferred to have a completely opensource tooling, and only use commercial compilers as a bonus, say for faster runtime, or to target certain hardware, or better diagnostics.
It would be great to have a thriving commercial ecosystem in Fortran. In my opinion the fact that it is currently still contracting is because the foundations of Fortran have been neglected for a long time and as a consequence the number of users and projects using Fortran have been decreasing. To fix it, we have to rebuild it: we actually need solid opensource compilers, package build system, website, forum, a thriving ecosystem of new packages, etc. Things are improving, but it can easily take another 5 years to see it in increased sales for commercial companies. I think once you have a thriving ecosystem, it should become easier to sell commercial add-ons.
The other issue is as @Beliavsky suggested, that selling software in general is potentially getting harder. That trend is unrelated to Fortran, but doesn’t help it.
I have used Interacter then Winteracter throughout my professional career, and I would like to record, publicly, how useful and robust it has been. And on the rare occasions I had trouble I always received rapid and effective responses.
Thank you.
Do you have plans for the source code? Is there any chance that it might be donated into the open source community?
I think one has to careful about making statements about Fortran users based on Fortran Discourse membership. Here is a list of companies who employ people who are involved Fortran programming taken from the BCS (British Computer Society) Fortran specialist group membership.
Aberdeenshire Council
Ab Initio Software Ltd
Adobe Systems Europe Ltd
Alstom UK
Altera Europe
AMEC NNC LIMITED
ARCADIS-Vectra Group Ltd
Areva T & D UK Ltd
Arm Ltd
Arup
Arup Group Ltd
Aveva Solutions Ltd
A W E
AWE
Baker Hughes
Balfour Beatty Power Networks
BCS
BelSystems Ltd
Best Union (Enta Ticketing Solutions Ltd)
Bluebay Estate Agents Ltd
Bone-IT Limited
B P International Ltd
British Energy
British Energy Generation Ltd
British Telecom
BTCV Enterprises
Buckinghamshire County Council
CA
CAD Schroer UK
Canterbury Christ Church University
Capgemini
Capgemini UK Ltd
CapGemini (UK) Plc
Caterpillar N.I. Ltd
Cayman Islands Government
CEFAS
CEYLON PETROLEUM STORAGE TERMINALS LIMITED
Chartridge Scientific Computing
Churchill Hospital
Click Consult
C/O Computer Services
Corus Northern Engineering Services
Costello & Associates
Cray UK Ltd
Crossrail Ltd
C S C
CSC Computer Sciences Ltd
Delcam International Plc
Det Norske Veritas
D S T L
D S T L Electronics Department
Durham University
East Lancs Institute of Higher Education
EDF Energy
Edge Hill University
E D S Ltd
EDS Ltd
e-Go Aeroplanes
E M B L Outstation Hinxton
Entuity
EPSRC General Payments
E S R I (UK) Cambridge Ltd
Excelian
F G Wilson Ltd
Fortranplus
Forza Consulting Limited
Fujitsu
Fujitsu Europe Ltd
Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe Ltd
Fujitsu Ltd.
Fujitsu Services Limited
Gallathea S T S Ltd
Gatsby Unit
Glyndwr University
Hawker Consultants Ltd
Hewlett-Packard Company
HMRC
Honeywell Aerosoace
IBM United Kingdom Ltd
iConsult Globally Limited
ICT Imperial College
Imperial College London
Independent
Independent consultant
Information Risk Management Plc
Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited
Interglossa Ltd
Investment Property Databank Ltd
JKR Associates
John E Anderson Com. Research Con.
John Leggott College
John Wallace Associates
JPF IT Consultancy Limited
Jump Trading Pacific Pte Ltd
Kaduna State University
K.C. Computer Services
L-3 Communications Link Simulation & Training UK Ltd
Lee Bolton & Lee
Liverpool Hope University
Liverpool Hope University, Business & Computing Deanery
Lloyds Bank Group
Lloyd’s Register
Longhours Ltd
Making Music
Management Systems Modelling Ltd
MAN Investments Ltd
Marconi Marine (VSEL) Ltd
Markit Group Ltd
Martin Jones
Mathematical Institute
MDC
Medicines Discovery Catapult
Mesolin Ltd
Messier Dowty Ltd.
Met Office
Michael Saunby
Micro Focus Ltd
Ministry of Defence
MOD
MTEM Ltd
M W Kellog Ltd
NAG LTD
National E-Science Centre
National Grid Co Plc
National Oceanography Centre
NDI Recognition Systems
Network Rail
Nexus
N F U Mutual Insurance Society Ltd
none
N T T X Ltd
O E D, A B S Europe Ltd
Optimum Semiconductor Technologies
OSIsoft Europe Ltd
Oxford Microtech Systems Limited
Peakdawn Limited
Peebee Publishing Ltd.
Pilkington Technology & Management Ltd
Polyhedron Software Ltd
Praesideon Limited
Protaffin Biotechnologie AG
PZ & W Ltd
Qinetiq
Quintessa Ltd
Quorum Network Resources Ltd
RC3 Ltd
Red Prairie Online Ltd
Redprairie Plc
Retired
Revolution IT
Rhymney Consulting
Rolls-Royce Plc
S A P UK Ltd
School of Oriental & African Studies
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Seal Island Media Ltd
S E D, A B S Europe Ltd
Self-employed
Self Employed
Sellafield Limited
Sellafield Ltd
Shell International Trading & Shipping Co Ltd
Shepway District Council
Siemens Plessey Controls Ltd
Software A G
Software AG
Software Ag (Uk) Ltd
Sports Direct
STFC Daresbury Laboratory
Stratified Medical
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Tata Steel
Telespazio Vega UK Ltd
Thales UK
The Boots Company Plc
The Hong Kong And China Gas Co Ltd
The Mount Business Centre Ltd
The University of Edinburgh
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Nottingham
Thoughtworks
T I S Software Ltd
U K Euniversities
University College London (UCL)
University College Northampton
University Of Ballarat
University of Bedfordshire
University of Birmingham
University Of Birmingham
University of Cambridge
University Of Colombo
University Of Greenwich
University of Leeds
University of Leicester
University of Liverpool
University of Oxford
University of Qatar
University of Reading
University of Tasmania
University Of Teesside
University of Warwick
University Of Westminster
Uppingham School
U R S Corporation Ltd
Verizon Communications Philippines, Inc.
VISA Europe
Visteon European Corporate Office
Weatherford (EPS)
Westinghouse Rail Systems Ltd
I wonder how many of the people working for these companies are also Fortran Discourse members?
Conversations with people we’ve provided training to indicate that they are prepared to pay for compilers and expect support from the vendors as a consequence.
Conversations with people we’ve provided training to indicate that they are prepared to pay for compilers and expect support from the vendors as a consequence.
Did you also ask whether they would pay for service/support for an open source compiler? If “getting the job done” is the relevant metric, it should not matter whether one pays for the right to use a software and get support for free or whether one can use a software for free and pays for support.
Sidenote: I’m working at a public university, and there it is unfortunately much easier to pay huge license fees for commercial software than donating little money to developers of free and open source software. Support contracts might be a viable solution to pay open source developers in that situation.
Here is some background. Most of the companies we deal with use the Intel compiler on a Windows platform, and pay for the compiler. Most users also have a locked desktop. We teach with the Nag compiler due to its diagnostic capability. Here is a link Fortranplus | Fortran information Nag now provide a one month trial for everyone/anyone. We previously had an arrangement with Nag where they would provide a licence key to the users/company for the course. The issue of ‘open source’ Fortran compilers (effectively gfortran) does not come up when talking to the users.
As Windows is the major platform virtual courses are given via Teams, which is a security requirement by most of the companies.
Each company has their own way of working, and Jane and I fit round them.
@cmaapic: interesting. That means companies who still pay for Intel compilers (which are free) actually pay for support. Good business for @certik if LFortran works on Windows.
Perhaps the training presentations and material to industrial users by FortranPlus and anyone else can more explicitly point to Fortran Discourse site for guidance and support re: Fortran?
Winteracter was always kind of a unique product, in that it allowed a pure Fortran solution for creating fairly complicated GUIs, packaged up as a nice product with pretty good technical support from the developers. But I always wondered about their business model and how many customers they had and how long it was going to last.
We used Winteracter for many years in my org, but ended up basically outgrowing it due to its limitations. I do have fond memories of using it though. The Windows version was fine but was really showing its age. The Mac version was not great, since it was X11/OpenMotif based, and the less said about that the better. I don’t think I ever used the Linux version (also X11/OpenMotif).
We ended up rewriting our GUI in Python and Qt/PySide, with the Fortran core as a shared library. This allowed us to have real and modern cross-platform support and a very sophisticated GUI that just was not possible with Winteracter. So we ended up with something that was not only free, but better in most or all ways.
Hi @certik ,
Great to hear that ! Will your employment at MS affect LFortran development or release anyway. Or will LFortran now receive support from MS ?
It will not affect things negatively (if that is what you are asking), I am doing it on the side, like I was in my previous company and at LANL before that. We have external funding at NumFOCUS, and a large contractor team, you can see the constant steady stream of PRs going in every day: Pull requests · lfortran/lfortran · GitHub.
Or will LFortran now receive support from MS ?
That would be cool, wouldn’t it?
No, not right now, I am working as a compiler engineer for Microsoft’s custom hardware (some details of which you can read at Inside Maia 100: Revolutionizing AI Workloads with Microsoft's Custom AI Accelerator). I think our current LFortran resources are enough to get us to beta quality, meaning it can compile most Fortran codes, and expected to work. That in turn will open up many possibilities for further funding, whether NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft or other companies, labs or grant agencies, or even individual contributions from people (thank you everybody who contributed so far!). It might be possible to sustain long-term development from individual contributions alone as well.
Hopefully Apple will be one of those companies too. Apple already supports the LLVM software ecosystem, including debuggers, but they do not support fortran within xcode or any other way. Macs are a wonderful development environment for scientific, engineering, and numerical computing, but apple does not support fortran which as we all here know has been and is one of the predominant languages in those fields.
