> Cees raised a good point though.  Even if we were to rewrite big chunks
> of the system, we would still have to worry about 1) accusations that
> the rewrites weren't "clean-room" 2) patents.  There's really nothing
> that we can possibly do to rid ourselves of potential legal hassles.

Regarding clean-room rewrites ... Just how many on this list would be
qualified to perform the actual rewrite, since the definition of clean-room
pretty much implies that the work is being done by someone that has not
looked at the original code? Would anyone on this list that is well-versed
in the Squeak image code have any chance at all of saying they were not
influenced by the code being replaced? Given the open nature and the
invitation to tinker with all aspects of an image and using the source as
documentation when one does not understand something, it would seem to me
that almost no one can plead ignorance when it comes to the original code
and make it sound plausible (especially the more productive people currently
working on improving Squeak).

Lars