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Wow Tim, well said!  you took the words right out of my mind...I more
or less have the same feelings about C++ and Java.

In the case of M$ and Java, aren't they guilty of trying to put more
C-like features back into Java (like pointers....god, WHY?!?).  Their
influence is not one I'd be happy to see in the Smalltalk arena, given
their past history (and general myopia to anything OO).

As a side note, didn't bill gates give a talk recently somewhere where
he made a not-so-flattering reference to Smalltalk?  I wish I could
remember when & where...he essentially made some comment to the
effect of "what is it going to be, C or Smalltalk?"  If anyone knows
of the talk he gave and has a pointer to it, I'd appreciate knowing
what it is!