Peter,

> Think Bazaar, not Cathedral. I agree that the public release of Squeak
> should not have dangerous or unproven code in it. On the other hand, a
> cutting edge version should have experimental code in it. If you would
> just
> release Squeak with ANY exception framework then you might be surprised at
> how well this works. Suddenly a whole new set of eyes see and use the
> code.
> If its' utter garbage and crashes the image, then it wont last a day.
> People
> will just remove the code. If it has problems, then everyone can see them
> and attack them in parallel. If other code shows more potential, people
> will
> put that up instead. The more people that look at and use the code, the
> quicker the bugs will show up. The point is, you need to have something
> there for people to focus on and improve, even if it is embryonic. This
> will
> also help the development of teamwork instead of everyone doing it all on
> their own (for example two versions of OS events, +/- three versions of
> exceptions, x versions of Linux sound support). This is not the same as
> leaving the dirty work for Squeak Central - it is just a way of making
> more
> effective use of the large user/developer base.
> 
This is valid and serious point. It depends, however, on who our users are
(and will be). As Dan said, the ultimate goal is to provide an authoring
tool with which millions of users will be able to work in a fun media
environment; not just a few hundred developers (no offense meant - I see
these developers as the most valuable resource we can possibly have). But
that still doesn't solve the issue of stability and that is why I would like
to see a bunch of people who would be devoted to bringing a project in a
state that will allow the system at some point to go away from an
experimental state. If we have the time to do this then we do it (I remember
that Ted did a serious cleanup of some of the networking stuff) but if we
don't we need people who are commited to finish it.

  Andreas
--
+===== Andreas Raab ========= (andreasr at wdi.disney.com) ==+
| Walt Disney Imagineering        Phone: +1 818 544 5016  I
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