Official support

Randal Schwartz merlyn at stonehenge.com
Wed Dec 24 18:19:14 UTC 1997


>>>>> "Dan" == Dan Ingalls <DanI at wdi.disney.com> writes:

Dan> I once read a derogatory reference in comp.lang.smalltalk to
Dan> Squeak's dependence on the whimsical enthusiasm of a couple of
Dan> wizards.  Who could ever make product plans upon such shifting
Dan> sands?

The same has been said about Larry "Perl" Wall or Guido "Python" von
Rossum or Jon "TCL" Ousterhout getting hit by their respective busses.

Funny how that doesn't seem to stop millions of people from using this
free software for mission-critical applications all over the world.

Dan> The answer is simple: A Squeak release includes everything about
Dan> itself, and probably 25% of the folks on this distribution list
Dan> could maintain the any given version single-handedly for the next
Dan> 20 years.  It's better than being supported.  It's having control
Dan> over your destiny.

Exactly!  Open/free software *is* power over your own destiny.  It's
only scary to people that are accustomed^Wprogrammed to calling an
800/900 number every time they can't figure out where the "any" key
is. :-)

I cringe whenever I have to use poorly-documented probably-buggy
proprietary vendor products.  I'm too used to Perl and GNU Emacs, I
guess. :-)

Just another guy hoping to get proficient with Squeak after
abandonding QKS Smalltalk's futures markets,

-- 
Name: Randal L. Schwartz / Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095
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