I probably should have edited that presentation a bit before posting 
it, since that comment is being taken out of context and without my 
speech along with it, so thanks for letting me explain.

My audience was (broadly speaking) a group of Squeak-skeptics who are 
mostly Java and C++ users.  I wanted to be careful to identify the 
strengths of Squeak right out-of-the-box, as compared to Java or C++ 
right out-of-the-box, as opposed to what Squeak is capable of.  I do 
believe that Squeak *could* be used for ecommerce and high-traffic 
sights, but *as it is right now*, it lacks features that are packaged 
with things like Java (like database connectivity, ease of use with 
fast and native webservers).

For example, even with Comanche (our latest webserver), a big class 
(150+ students) using the site a lot can (so far, inexplicably) kill 
the server -- even on a pretty-powerful Unix box.  We're working on 
that, but the current state-of-the-art makes Squeak look bad for 
those kinds of applications compared to other systems.

What I did emphasize in my talk are the multimedia and programming 
facilities in Squeak that are far beyond what you get in Java and C++.

For our work, descriptions of our stuff are at 
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/projects/squeakers/  It's getting updated, 
as it's the beginning of the term, so check back in a few days.

Mark

At 5:19 PM +0100 1/7/00, Vandendriessche, Frederik wrote:
>Dear Squeakers,
>
>Okay, a bit late but here it is anyway:
>
>Happy new year and best wishes to all of you that care about object oriented
>programming (and your friends) !!!
>
>Sure, this is not the reason for my mail;  here is the real question,  maybe
>Mark G. is best placed to answer (?);
>
>
>I browsed through the presentation
><http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu:8888/cs2340/uploads/gvubb-nov99.ppt and
>noticed at the end the "what squeak is not for" section.  I was amazed when
>I saw  "E.Commerce and other
>high-traffic sites" in that section.
>
>Can anyone document this statement ?  Why is squeak not fit for those
>purposes ?
>
>I am asking because I had/still have the intention to do something like that
>with squeak, but now I am not sure anymore/a little confused.
>
>I work with EDS (Electronic Data Systems) E.Solutions (our E.Commerce
>business line) in Belgium, where I have to functions:
>- e.system engineer (I develop network applications. We use Java / MS /
>Oracle solutions, no Smalltalk :-(
>- solution manager for E.Community (E.Community stands for networked
>collaboration (very short description, I know)).
>Also, I consider myself an 'OO freak' (the rest <i>stinks</i>).
>
>I suppose I do not need to tell you that "collaborative dynabooks" are my
>cup of tea.
>I am very interested in any steps undertaken to achieve this goal.  Are
>there any positions free ???
>Where can I find the current status of this project ?
>
>
>That's it for now.
>Cheers,
>Fred
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------------
>Please note that the statements above are mine, and to not reflect the
>vision of my employer.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------------
>
>
>Frederik Vandendriessche
>System Engineer @ E.Solutions
>EDS Belgium, Brussels
>e-mail	Frederik.Vandendriessche at eds.com
>tel  32/0  2  711 37 83
>fax 32/0  2  711 39 47
>
>
>----
>Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do!
>The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
>Really smart people with reasonable funding can
>do just about anything that doesn't violate too many
>of Newton's Laws!"
>Alan Kay in 1971
>----
>
> <<Frederik Vandendriessche.vcf>>
>
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>	name="Frederik Vandendriessche.vcf"
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>
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>(????/----) (0003BC10)

--------------------------
Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
(404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html