Cutting through a lot of marketing words:

>     In conjunction with this program, ObjectShare is releasing a free, non-
> commercial version of the company's flagship product, VisualWorks.

     Unfortunately, this move comes too late for those of us at Michigan
     State, Northern Iowa, and other schools who have been trying to use
     Smalltalk in various academic capacities for nearly ten years.  MSU
     has paid countless thousands of dollars in licensing in that time
     for purely academic usage, and UNI simply waited.  (No big bucks
     here!)  Now, with the availability of Squeak, the Squeak community,
     all of my time spent learning Squeak deeply, and other competitors
     such as VisualAge, I doubt we make the move.

     Thanks for the posting, though, Steve.  It's good to see that the
     VW people have come to recognize some value in an academic market!

---- Eugene