Gee, do you think we would get more users?

Jerzy Karczmarczuk karczma at info.unicaen.fr
Fri Mar 8 12:25:34 UTC 2002


I demanded the death penalty for Bruce O'Neel, who sent a mail
suggesting that this list needs more messages/users.

I felt really badly, seeing what is *already* the percentage of Squeak 
postings in my mailbox, day after day...

Hannes Hirzel:


> FYI, Bruce O'Neel is the Squeak librarian and a long standing member of
> the list. Integral Science Data Center is the signature of his post and
> not of the part of the mail he cited.
> 
> However I actually don't think Squeak doesn't get enough attention
> through the search engines.
> 
> If  we want a larger user base a different kind of marketing will be
> needed.

...

OK, OK, I am sorry if you find that I was unnecessarily nervous, it had
obviously nothing personal, and it was very far from any *real* cruel thoughts
addressed to Bruce O'Neel. My apologies once more.

Personally I don't think that Squeak is a sad orphan, forgotten by the world.
People who know anything about Smalltalk, know about Squeak, and those who are
interested in OO programming *seriously*, know about Smalltalk.

I don't care about making Squeak the Top 5 within the search engines, knowing
that the proliferation of those daemons is rather harmful to the Web than
useful (my humble opinion). But the marketing is needed, yes. Perhaps a 
different kind, perhaps it would be useful to make a decent set of "stand-alone"
applications, with the image as shrunken as possible, and augmented with 
specifics: 3D modelling/design; image processing; Computer Algebra; presentation
software, games & animations, etc. 
Do the same thing as some game manufacturers do: people buy or load various
concrete time-wasters without even knowing that the "game engine", the kernel is
exactly the same in many games. Some of clients realize that, and become
interested in those game engines themselves, and in the development process.


Jerzy Karczmarczuk

PS. Hannes asked some questions addressed in a more personal style, so
    I answer privately.



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