Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:

>
> Smalltalk can do anything that Java can
> do, and do it better, but more people have _heard_ of Java than of
Smalltalk.
> You don't need corruption to explain why a company would "choose" Java
> rather than Smalltalk without doing any comparitive evaluation; you only
> need to suppose that they did not know they were making a choice.
>

It takes expertise, connections, resources, and luck to get the kind of PR
that Java has had. When it first came out it was front page news of my paper
(The San Jose Mercury. See
http://java.sun.com/features/1998/05/images/merc_large.gif ). Rarely can one
get public attention because you have better technology, you need to know
how to work the press and put lots of effort into doing so. Maybe Squeak
needs a Kim Polese who did Java PR.

If not sure how this is supposed to happen in a open source context. Who
would pay for the Squeak PR person? Or can one really get a volunteer for
that kind of work?

If you want to reach the general public then you can't ignore this issue.

Best,

-ken kahn ( www.toontalk.com )