>Doug Way <dway at riskmetrics.com> said:
>>I think there's already been an O'Reilly book with a field mouse
>>or somesuch on the cover, so I'd like to see something like a white
>>laboratory mouse.  It would fit in well with Squeak's and Smalltalk's
>>research origins. :) >
>
>Hmm. "Research causes cancer in mice", is the sort of association I would get
>from that ;-)
>
>>On a more serious note, if an O'Reilly book is actually going to be
>>written, someone will have to step forward as a potential author... a
>>group of enthusiastic but uncommitted Squeakers isn't going to be
>>sufficient.  Randal Schwartz, author of Learning Perl (one of the most
>>popular O'Reilly books) is a member of this list and has mentioned the
>>possibility of writing an O'Reilly Squeak book in the past, but I thought
>>that the last time he checked, O'Reilly wasn't interested. (although
>>this may have been a few years ago) >
>>
>Well, first off: O'Reilly still isn't interested. Or I'm just very bad at
>writing elevator-pitch-length proposals. It doesn't fit in their product line
>they just told me.

I wonder if we don't need to narrow the initial pitch a little.  I've 
noticed that many people need a very focused (and short) explanation 
of what a thing is for, so they can pigeon-hole it properly.   One of 
the things made Java so popular was the slogan that it was the 
"computer language for the net" :-? (wry smiley).  Squeak's very 
power and flexibility may work against it in that respect; a lot of 
people want to hear one thing it's good for, and get uncomfortable 
when you say "anything" because then they can't put it in a neat 
category.

>
>I've always wanted to write a book, but never have seen a project that
>would be worth the effort. The closest I came to starting a book was
>with Jini, but all the publishers were interested in was re-writes of
>the documentation by Sun. Nothing, err, 'esoteric'.

Cees, I'm really glad you mentioned that.  I'm "at liberty" at the 
moment, and had thought about turning some of the thinking I've been 
doing about pervasive computing with Jini into a book.  At least it 
would be an interesting project while I wait for the Northwest 
economy to get out of flatline ...  But if the publishers aren't 
interested in anything beyond "insert strut A into slot "' sorts of 
nuts and bolts books, well, it's probably not worth the effort.

Just out of curiousity, what was the topic you were thinking of writing about?

>  A Squeak book might
>be a worthwhile thing to pursue...

Yes, it would be.  The thing I think Squeak is missing is something 
closer to a critical mass of at least semi-knowledgeable and 
interested users.  Right now the population of Squeakers is mostly  a 
little too introverted and cultish (I'm including myself!) to attract 
the larger audience we need for Squeak to make a difference to anyone 
besides ourselves.

Bruce

>
>--
>Cees de Groot               http://www.cdegroot.com     <cg at cdegroot.com>
>GnuPG 1024D/E0989E8B 0016 F679 F38D 5946 4ECD  1986 F303 937F E098 9E8B


-- 
"The joke is over when the head falls off." - Scotts' proverb
=========
Bruce Cohen
5908 SW California St.
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brucecohen at qwest.net