OK, Squeakers,

	I'm in a situation where I can see myself being poised to suggest a  
language tool for an upcoming iteration of a retail product. It's a ways  
off, but it is, I think, inevitable. We are currently using an Access-like  
tool to develop the application, which has around 200 different tables and  
screens. It also has many variants. From a design standpoint, it cries out  
for object-orientation, but of course, we have bupkus as far as genuine OO  
tools at hand.

	I'm considering suggesting Squeak (or any Smalltalk) as the platform but  
there are a few issues, some more easily resolvable than others. I'd like  
to hear some ideas on this:

-> The lure of the Access-like tools is the fact that any moron can design  
a table or set and then create a form or grid based on said table.  Forms  
generally need a lot of massaging and re-formatting so they're not a huge  
deal, but I've seen no grids. Having built a few grids in my day I'm not  
keen on building more.

-> We'll have at least 4-5 people working on the same application. One of  
the nightmares of the current environment is that it was not designed for  
collaborative work. (I confess also that STers disdain for files is not  
one I understand. Working in an image makes some things very convenient  
and other things very inconvenient.) I've read a lot of caveats regarding  
Monticello and I'm not quite sure how well it would work. Anyone with  
experience here? How will Croquet factor in, given that it's all about  
collaboration? (I can see certain elements of Croquet being very useful  
for working out bugs and brainstorming, but I don't know about source  
control.)

-> Right now the bosses are concerned with the fact that the app doesn't  
look like a "normal Windows app" that people are used to. I'm aware of the  
problems and solutions to this in Squeak, but I also suspect this will be  
a non-issue shortly. MS seems to have abandoned Win32.

-> The web-based squeak stuff--not Seaside, but the plug-in--makes it  
appear as though any squeak application can be put on the web with a flick  
of a switch (I suppose especially if the data storage is handled  
correctly). I am somewhat concerned about interoperability between Squeak  
and .NET/J2EE Thoughts?

Thank you, kind folk, in advance.

	===Blake===