On Wednesday 21 May 2003 06:12 am, Enrico Bertini wrote:
> Here are some questions that I have on the Squeak:

My opinion follows (this isn't the opinion of the Guides or the Squeak 
Community at large, necessarily).

> 1)      Is Squeak actually mature for commercial
> applications/packages/systems?

Some companies have thought so and do think so. There have been 
products developed and brought to market using Squeak. Others are 
using Squeak full-time as a web application platform.

> 2)      If not, when it will be so?
>
> 3)      If not, what is the work to do towards this direction?
> Modules/Packages? Security? Distribution? Cryptographic Bytecodes?
> Dynamic Translation? Clean Up? Indipendent OS? All? Other? Or What?

That would depend on what you need in your application.

However, modularizing and cleanup efforts are being driven in part by 
people who want to use Squeak as the basis for shippable applications 
and don't want to ship the whole enormous image.

> 4)      If a company want to begin to develop heavy commercial
> applications in Squeak, therefore investing money and resources,
> what is the future that awaits them? Should they develop the
> lacking modules/parts from themselves? Should they build a new
> development environment based on Squeak core technologies? Should
> they wait that the Squeak becomes more mature? Or what?

I'll let the Exobox people speak to that one. Or Dan, or Paul 
Fernhout. But it would depend on what you need. However, if I were 
about to commit lots of money to a development effort I would make 
sure that *the Squeak you have* can either do the work or can be made 
to do the work.

I would not count on any future Squeak getting some favorite and 
necessary improvements unless you're going to do the work yourself. 
This advice is not Squeak specific; I feel the same about any 
product. Just because (for instance) Cincom declares that it's going 
to have some feature in some upcoming version, I wouldn't count on it 
until I had it in my hands and could test that feature.

Likewise, I wouldn't count in Squeak not changing underneath you. So 
assume that whatever version of Squeak you have is the one you'll 
ship. Though we try to maintain backwards compatibility when possible 
(especially in the VM), we can't guarantee it.

> 5)      Is there in the Squeak Community any orientation towards
> market? Or not?

I think there are a number of people here who might use Squeak in a 
commercial project. I don't think there's much interest in the 
"Enterprise IT" market or whatever it calls itself today. Though I 
could be wrong. Lurkers? Has Squeak gone corporate yet?

Many of the more vocal members of the Squeak community are using 
Squeak for experimentation, for prototyping, for multimedia, and for 
education.

> 6)      What the Squeak Community can do (in terms of support) for
> a company that wants to adopt Squeak as development platform for
> his applications/systems?

There are a number of us who work as consultants and would be glad to 
set up support contracts. If there is enough demand, some of us could 
get together to provide a Squeak support company. Off the top of my 
head, there's Tim, Craig, John M, me, and I'm sure others who I 
forget now because I haven't had coffee yet.

> 7)      Ultimately, is there a future of Squeak in the market?

Which market?

-- 
Ned Konz
http://bike-nomad.com
GPG key ID: BEEA7EFE