[squeak-dev] Re: Is Cincom slowly killing Visual Smalltalk Enterprice

James Robertson jarober at gmail.com
Fri Sep 3 03:58:52 UTC 2010


How so?  I'm simply trying to make expectations plain - since we don't own the IP, we cannot do much with VSE.  Since it's been moribund since 1997, I think it's unlikely that bringing it forward would be easy in any event.

There are many current Smalltalk systems - both open source: Pharo, Squeak, GNU - and commercial - Cincom, VA, Gemstone.   There's also Lesser Smalltalk.

The point is, you would be better off, I think, focusing on a product that has been steadily improved all of these years.


On Sep 2, 2010, at 11:19 PM, Yanni Chiu wrote:

> The original poster already stated that Cincom does not own the IP, so your entire reply is irrelevant.
> 
> Can you post a definitive answer to the other points (excluding the Seagull point). Namely:
> 
> > On Sep 2, 2010, at 7:53 AM, Henrik Høyer wrote:
> >> Cincom does not hold the IP for VSE - Seagull Software does
> >> Cincom has exclusive rights for selling and supporting VSE
> >> Seagull Software has no problem selling/donating the IP
> >> Cincom has refused to sell/donate their rights
> 
> If Cincom is not an impediment (i.e. Cincom's exclusive rights to sell/support VSE does not encumber the sale/donation of the VSE IP), then, as suggested by others, the community can approach the IP owner.
> 
> I haven't used VSE in over a decade, and am surprised at its staying power. I would hate to see it disappear.
> 
> 
> James Robertson wrote:
>> Cincom does not actually own the IP for VSE - when Cincom acquired VisualWorks from ObjectShare (back in 1999), the limited rights to VSE we do have were inherited from ObjectShare. ObjectShare had sold the IP for VSE to Seagull, which later was acquired by Rocket Software.  I have no idea whether that company does anything with that IP, or what level of concern they have with it.
>> Cincom has no ability to open source VSE; we cannot open source IP which we don't own.  You would have to pursue that with the people who own it.
>> As to stopping work, recall that VSE was EOL'd by ParcPlace-Digitalk in 1997.  It's been in that state ever since.  If you look at the Smalltalk products Cincom owns - ObjectShare and VisualWorks - I think you would have to say that we've aggressively supported them and moved them both forward.  We are committed to Smalltalk, but there is very little we can do about IP we don't own.
>> On Sep 2, 2010, at 7:53 AM, Henrik Høyer wrote:
>>> Dear All
>>> If you have forgotten about Visual Smalltalk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Smalltalk_Enterprise), it is this really cool Smalltalk dialect that enables users to build native Windows applications. Visual Smalltalk is one of the original Smalltalk dialects, and was made by Digitalk. In 1995 active development stopped when the merger between ParcPlace and Digitalk happened. VSE has since been in the hands of ParcPlace-Digitalk, then ObjectShare, and  since 1999 Cincom.
>>> The state of affair of Visual Smalltalk Enterprise (VSE) is not optimal. The VSE community has make several attempts in the past to clear this up. These attempts has all been made quietly and discrete. When I left ESUG last year I was confident that there was a future for open-sourcing VSE. Unfortunately I have since learned that Cincom are not willing to change anything, and are regarding VSE as a cash cow.
>>> The current status is:
>>> Cincom stopped all work on the VSE platform more than a decade ago
>>> Cincom continues to collect support fees for VSE
>>> Cincom has raised the price for VSE licenses
>>> Cincom only fixes bug on a case-by-case matter. Bugs fixed for one customer is not made available to other customers.
>>> Cincom charges huge money for fixing bugs. They charge by the hour, and since they don't have the knowledge one can expect 50-100 hours for trivial fixes
>>> Cincom does not hold the IP for VSE - Seagull Software does
>>> Cincom has exclusive rights for selling and supporting VSE
>>> Seagull Software has no problem selling/donating the IP
>>> Cincom has refused to sell/donate their rights
>>> Due to the above, VSE users are jumping through hoops to actually use the product on newer operating systems. To make the matters worse, every time anyone makes a bug fix, we all fear that Cincom will drop its lawyer muscle on us.
>>> I believe that the time has come to stop being discrete and speak up in public. For VSE to have a future we need to act now.
>>> I would love for Cincom to comment on these issues. Does Cincom really see the  free support and maintenance made by the community as a threat to their business? Are Cincom interested in actually supporting VSE, and not just collecting money from their trapped customers? Does Cincom really believe that VSE customers will migrate to other products supplied by them, taking only their word for not abandoning them again in the future?
>>> Unfortunately I am not able to attend ESUG this year, but I hope that others will raise these questions.
>>> I am pretty sure nobody in the Smalltalk community will benefit from the death of VSE.
>>>   
>>> <speoplelogo3d6c.png> <http://www.sPeople.dk/>	Henrik Høyer
>>> Chief Software Architect
>>> hh at sppl.dk <mailto:hh at sppl.dk> • (+45) 4029 2092
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>>> www.sPeople.dk <http://www.sPeople.dk/> • (+45) 7023 7775
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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