Francisco Garau writes:

> Could you tell us what were the reasons behind [the] decision?
> Were they technical or business reasons? It is kind of disappointing
> to hear that a company stopped using the best development software 
> available. What happened?

	They stopped for business/political reasons. Summarizing mercilessly, they...

-	started a research project with a couple of Smalltalk enthusiasts, certain that complete malleability (and independence from a certain software monolith) was a strategic advantage
-	hired more Smalltalk enthusiasts
-	built working software (and hardware)
-	scrapped it for software from the aforementioned monolith, so as to permit a more lubricated alliance with said monolith, or at least timid noncompetition
-	created a spinoff company from the project
-	gave the Smalltalk enthusiasts a choice between rewriting the software in C at the new company, or salvaging the software as a new research project (they had spent a spectacular amount of time and money by this point)
-	waved farewell to the new company (and the original Smalltalk enthusiasts with it)
-	began a "change in focus" (reflecting the new interests of the funder), including the departure of the company's co-founder (and the last executive advocate of the software) and large budget cuts
-	ignored the remaining Smalltalk enthusiasts

	At the end, there was no one else in the company with any Smalltalk experience or interest, despite advocacy attempts by the remaining enthusiasts (Tim and myself). The traditional outmoded perceptions of insufficient labor supply and runtime performance held sway. It was the all-too-familiar experience of watching a company reorganize all the advocates away.

	Aggressive prototyping was, in my experience, a radical and dangerous concept there. It went against prevailing pressure for hasty and inefficient marches toward optimal first attempts. The principle of enlightenment through rapid iteration was foreign and mistrusted. This wasn't what I expected from "research".

	At any rate, their behavior here didn't have much to do with technical considerations. Proper technical consideration was never given.


-C

	
--
Craig Latta
composer and computer scientist
craig.latta at netjam.org
www.netjam.org
Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)]