First off, I think Squeak is more like an operating system than like a
software package. Therefore, when comparing Squeak to other open source
projects I think it is much more useful to compare it with Linux as a whole
than any single Linux package (including kernel).

Personally, my 'vision' for Squeak is a core VM and class library (akin to the
standardized Linux kernel) and hopefully a lot of specialized Squeak
distributions around that. And sh*tloads of packages to add bells'n'whistles.

A lot of your questions are questions that the SqF effort seeks to answer, and
I think as the summer holidays are nearing their end it is time to pick things
up again...

Stephane Ducasse <ducasse at iam.unibe.ch> said:
>    - why the open-source model of squeak does not work?

It does. Just start projects to solve the issues you find in Squeak (use the
SqF Swiki if you want or ask me for a new Swiki/mailing list/whatever) and get
people together to help you out. Issues that are interesting enough will
attract enough people to help solve them. Solutions that are good enough will
either fold back in some 'main' distribution or at least be readily available
for inclusion in locally maintained images.

One of the biggest tenets of Open Source Movement Participation[tm]:
Just Do It.  Don't discuss, write code (or write docs, setup web sites,
design graphics, whatever you are good at). If you think you have good ideas,
don't go around telling people how good they are, but implement them and show
them how good they are. It's called politics and calculated risk taking, and
there Open Source doesn't provide you with anything new :-)

-- 
Cees de Groot               http://www.cdegroot.com     <cg at cdegroot.com>
GnuPG 1024D/E0989E8B 0016 F679 F38D 5946 4ECD  1986 F303 937F E098 9E8B
Building software is like quantum mechanics: you can predict what it
will do, or when it will be ready -- but not both.