On Mon, Jul 04, 2005 at 04:58:26PM +0200, Franz Josef Konrad wrote:
> 
> I don't see Squeak as a competitor to the commercial Smalltalk systems. 
> I want to see low barriers for people to use Smalltalk doing business. 
> And with a free product like Squeak you have an attractive choice.
> 
> If it is possible to grow the the number of people who use Squeak it 
> will IMO automatically raise the number of people who will use a 
> commercial Smalltalk systems. If you believe this isn't possible then of 
> course you will have a cannibalism effect that Squeak takes market share 
> from the commercial systems. But perhaps I'm too optimistic?!

100% agree. And I like Alan Knight's analogy of rowing a lifeboat :)

> Dave, so would you argue not to use Squeak for business projects? Using 
> a commercial Smalltalk system instead?

I depends on the customer of course. My background is in the automotive
industry, where a commercial product would be preferred. As for myself,
I use Squeak for fun and as a wonderful personal analytical tool. But I
agree with your points.

Dave