On Jul 10, 2006, at 12:42 PM, Lukas Renggli wrote:
Honestly, Stef, if it isn't random then what is the strategy for these changes? Looking at the past Squeak versions, starting from 3.6 every version was just incompatible enough with previous versions such that it would break any serious user of the metaclass hierarchy (like Tweak). I think you will agree that it can't continue that way, that at some point we need to get back to what can be called a *stable* metaclass kernel with reliable APIs and when exactly will that point be reached?
To improve software, it is required to break backward compatibility. Nobody is forcing you to move to a new version.
True. Though if few enough people are moving to new versions as they come out, it's not a very good sign.
Just as a data point: everything we do at Smallthought is based on a stripped 3.7 image. Every few months I download a 3.9 image and play with it for about 15 minutes, but the reality is that what happens in 3.9 simply doesn't affect us. If we're an exceptional case, it's probably not a big deal, but if it turns out that lots of others are doing the same thing, it would be worrying.
Avi