Hi,

Actually Smalltalk/V 286 is different from Smaltalk Express and is totally different. Smalltalk Express is the first Windows version from Digitalk and it's 16bit. I am assuming you want a DOS version of Smalltalk/V 286.

You would need to contact the people at Digitalk, now ObjectShare for a copy of the VM and Image. If they don't have a copy we could provide you with one (a base image) only if ObjectShare provides written permission to us to provide you with a copy. This, of course, assumes that ObjectShare is now the copyright holder for the Smalltalk/V 286 version. A few years back they still had some unsold packaged copies lying around. We are just respecting the copyright holders rights. You might ask for Eric Clayberg.

Close Source v.s. Open Source I recently, at OOPSLA 98, asked Digitalk/ObjectShare to put their obsolete versions of Smalltalk into the public domain or under a free use licence of some kind, but so far they have declined - except for the Smalltalk Express. Maybe they will do with Smalltalk/v286 what they have done with Smalltalk Express. If they do that would be excellent. I do know that they no longer have the full source code (or potentially even any of the source code) for the Smalltalk/v286 software from converstations with them last year on a bug fix. (Another user provided a binary patch for the problem with the VM so it would work with PCs with more than 32Megabytes of ram).

A lot of the Y2k problems are requiring that software be re-written because the source code has been lost. In some direct and important way a software system becomes obsolete the moment the source code is lost. The ability to make bug fixes, update the system, move it to new platforms, etc.. are all lost. (Unless you wish to pay the higher price of reverse engineering which is not perfect technically).

It seems that these forms of obsolescence are critical failures of close source software systems and are major reason to avoid using closed source systems. Once there are no longer enough customers to economically support a software development tool company's business model the users who are still dependent upon the product face the consequences - technically and financially. The inexorable push forward of software improvement and Moore's Law crunches developers economic models. Call it the Dark Side of Moore's Law and Constant Improvement.

How do you engineer software systems that will stand the test of time (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100 years or even 1 year!) in the face of Moore's Law and constant improvements (or set backs) to support systems like Operating Systems, Networks, etc...? How do you engineer for capabilities that didn't exist when you wrote your application?

If the source code of Smalltalk/V 286 were still around and if it had some sort of Open Source licence it would still be a viable platform for some folks. At least to maintain old code so that it still works on modern machines without having to expend large amounts of money to re-rewite or port the code. It would be great to have Smalltalk/V 286 run in a Windows DOS window. If we had the source it could be modified to do that. The only other way would be to reverse engineer it at a high cost (time).

I have a client who has spent over a million dollars developing software in three versions of Smalltalk over the past decade. At each stage of completion they find that the work just completed is obsolete because the Smalltalk version they just developed in (including porting) is now obsolete. It's now about to happen again for a fourth time. This has put their entire investment at risk for many years and has reduced the financial returns significantly.

It might seem easy to port the code and this has been true for non-gui related classes, which ported easily, as a recent port has demonstrated clearly. However, porting gui code is another matter since the gui has radically changed with each new verion of Smalltalk. You can't really call it porting the gui code as it's actually a rewrite. And that costs much more.

Unfortunately, Smalltalk does not have a standard graphical user interface (gui) model. The Smalltalk Standard does not even address this area. Most Smalltalks have completely different gui models complicating and increasing the cost and movement of applications between Smalltalk versions.

While a large corporation may have the resources to sustain such constant re-development smaller companies who desire to develop internal apps or apps for sale, are in a much more difficult situation.

I have made recommendations that they use an Open Source Smalltalk for this fouth port so that it's the last port they need to make. Unfortunately, there does not yet seem to be a viable commercial quality Open Source Smalltalk avaliable on the market.

Any vendors, reading this, wish to be the first to provide a Full Open Source version and license? (Full Open Source including the source code to the Vitrual Machine, the entire Class Library, and full ability of people to re-compile the whole system from scratch).

Squeak Smalltalk is a very good contender for the job, however Squeak is lacking in a commercial quality Graphical User Interface that my client would find acceptable. Like it or not their primary market is on MSWindows9x/NT and if Squeak were to be used it would need a Windows like interface. Maybe this situation will be possible within the year. One alternative that is seriously being considered is developing the windows gui interface ourselves.

Open Source software has the potential to save developers a lot of money since their products don't become obsoleted by marketing and business decisions made by development tool companies. Removing this critical and unnecessary dependency from the software development cycle is an important aspect of Open Source software usage and a primary reason Open Source software is a viable model.

Yes, you have to spend money and/or time to protect you investment in your software. However, Closed Source software has additional risks that are not present with Open Source software. The risk of software obsolecense due to lack of source code is not present with Open Source software. Think of Open Source software as an insurance policy that you take out to protect your investment in the future of your software and your, or your clients, business.

All the best,

Peter William Lount peter@smalltalk.org http://www.smalltalk.org <-- Come and visit. New feature: "Engelbart's Unfinished Revolution".

Copyright 1999 by Peter William Lount. All rights reserved.

---------- From: L. M. Rappaport rapp@lmr.com To: squeak@cs.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Smalltalk/V 286 (maybe off topic) Date: March 31, 1999 5:14 AM

On Wed, 31 Mar 1999 11:06:05 +0000 (GMT), you wrote (with possible editing):

Can someone help me??? I need Smalltalk/V 286. If you know where to find VM and image for this kind of ST, please tell me.

Thank you.

				novo.

Peter.Novak@st.fmph.uniba.sk

I believe it's now called "Smalltalk Express" and it's available free at www.objectshare.com. This may differ somewhat from the original Smalltalk/V 286; YMMV...

Larry -- rapp@lmr.com