Different Forks for Different Folks

Roger Vossler rvossler at qwest.net
Thu Apr 26 20:56:31 UTC 2001


Hi Gang,
    Assuming for a moment that it is even desirable to fork
Squeak, I would much rather see it fork along problem domains
rather than along the lines of an operating environment.
    IMNSHO, the world needs another round of Solaris vs HPUX vs
AIX vs MaxOS X vs BSDI vs NetBSD vs FreeBsd vs GNU/Linux vs
all of the other flavors of U**X like we need more holes in
our heads. There is even evidence of this madness in the
Smalltalk world. :-)
    Instead, I would rather see a Medical Squeak, a Music
Squeak, a Movie Squeak, an Engineering Squeak, a Scientific
Squeak, a Web Squeak, a Collaborative Squeak, etc., etc.,
etc. Each of these implementations would be optimized
toward  particular problem domains, and yet, share some
common elements, depending upon the domain. [Of course,
there could even be a Lawyer Squeak, that is, one that bites
you in the ass when you turn it on. (Sorry about that. :-) ) ]
Each of these various implementations of Squeak could remain
relatively small with real performance, yet serve the needs
of a particular problem domain quite well.
    During a recent visit to my doctor's office, the RN
behind the desk was struggling with a software package designed
to support a physician's office. "Having a problem?", I innocently
asked. She snorted and with a look of utter disgust said,
"Whoever designed this piece of crap knew nothing about how we
do our jobs around here!" I nodded in sympathy, took my seat
to await my appointment, and hoped that my doctor was in a
better mood. I declined to identify myself as a computer
engineer, because I flashed on an image of this RN taking
my blood sample with a needle the size of a screwdriver.
Not that she would, of course. :-)
    Computer engineers and computer scientists have a notorious
reputation for worshipping the machines that we create in
our own image. I sincerely hope that the advocates for forking
Squeak, Stable Squeak, the SqF, et al, keep this firmly in
mind. Remember, there are real people out there. Yes, the ones
with money who may, or probably will not, buy our latest
mindstorms.
Cheers, Roger.....





More information about the Squeak-dev mailing list