<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I'll add my $0.02 on this topic as well:</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I agree that Squeak has suffered from a lack of leadership since SqC moved on to other things. When I first read Goran's message, my gut reaction was "Good, maybe Squeak will get some direction again."</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">My only concern is that Goran, Cees, Doug, Marcus, and Michael do all have "day jobs", as Goran mentioned, and they're taking on a big responsibility. I think that part of the reason things worked so well in the days of SqC is because there was a group of people guiding the path of Squeak development and Squeak **was** their "day job". It wasn't just something to work on in their spare time. I think a large part of Squeak's success is atrributable to this fact.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">If any group of people can actually afford devote the time that Squeak requires and deserves, I wholeheartedly support their effort. These five people are more than adequately qualified, in my opinion.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">It seems to be widely agreed upon that a lot of problems in Squeak land are because "nobody" is spending time doing the work. I also agree, but I disagree with those that argued "money won't help". I think that if Squeak isn't anybody's day job, it will continue to suffer many of the problems that have been discussed on squeak-dev. I'm not complaining. This is just an observation and opinion. I think it would be a good thing if there were qulified people who want to make Squeak their day job and a sponsor or sponsors to fund it. If an artist can find US$20 million to hang curtains in New York's Central Park for 16 days, surely there must be funding available somewhere to sponsor Squeak?</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I wish I could spend some time doing the work, but since my former group at work was layed off, and I was luckily offered a position in another group (at another location, in another country) in 2001, I haven't been able to spend much time with Squeak at all. For many reason's, my day job has been taking 12 to 14 hours per day of my time for that last few years, and that makes it difficult to make any time for Squeak. Squeak is important to me, but I have a family to support, so the paying job gets the priority. I think this is the same for most of us.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I'm sorry that some think this leadership intiative is a "power grab", but Squeak is clearly suffering from a lack of vision and direction and maybe these guys can help with that. I say "Give them a chance".</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">For any large project to succeed there needs to be a clear common goal understood by everyone participating. The project will still fail unless there is substantial "buy-in" from the group, so I think the 'mysterious_island' group have a difficult hill to climb before them. They stand a chance if we give them our support. They will fail if we don't.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">So, Guys, for what it's worth, you have my support.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> -Dean Swan</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> Senior DSP Engineer</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> Mitel Networks</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> Ottawa, Ontario - Canada</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">P.S. I am making no representations on behalf of my employer here, so hold them harmless.</font>