On Jul 10, 2006, at 12:42 PM, Lukas Renggli wrote:

>> Honestly, Stef, if it isn't random then what is the strategy for  
>> these
>> changes? Looking at the past Squeak versions, starting from 3.6 every
>> version was just incompatible enough with previous versions such  
>> that it
>> would break any serious user of the metaclass hierarchy (like  
>> Tweak). I
>> think you will agree that it can't continue that way, that at some  
>> point
>> we need to get back to what can be called a *stable* metaclass kernel
>> with reliable APIs and when exactly will that point be reached?
>
> To improve software, it is required to break backward compatibility.
> Nobody is forcing you to move to a new version.

True.  Though if few enough people are moving to new versions as they  
come out, it's not a very good sign.

Just as a data point: everything we do at Smallthought is based on a  
stripped 3.7 image.  Every few months I download a 3.9 image and play  
with it for about 15 minutes, but the reality is that what happens in  
3.9 simply doesn't affect us.  If we're an exceptional case, it's  
probably not a big deal, but if it turns out that lots of others are  
doing the same thing, it would be worrying.

Avi