[Newbies] Re: Why hasn't Smalltalk been wildly accepted?

[christo]

Thanks all for the feedback.

I think marketing tends to focus on very simple positive aspects. Something
like "it's just better" will usually suffice. It's precisely the thing that
is very difficult to argue in detail about and it has an unambiguous
emotional impact.

Getting into language comparisons is often beside the point since people are
making an emotional reaction and then perhaps rationalising things post hoc
(justifying by finding reasons for their emotional choices). Not everyone
does this but I suspect a large number of people do.

Look at Macintosh. When the thing was first released it had no hard drive,
no colour, no software and it was expensive. Apple's marketing was "it's a
macintosh". That was enough! It wasn't marketed as a computer. It's a whole
new thing for which there is no comparison. Many sober comparisons of Mac
against alternatives didn't fall in favour of Mac. The formula is working.
People love their macs! By the way I'm not suggesting they aren't great
machines in their own right.

Thanks for the pointers about Botsinc, Blake and Dolphin, Stéphane I'll
check them out.

Regards,

-- 
Chris Mountford

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in
practice, there is." -- Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut
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