ok I see I did hurt some feelings so let's be a bit clearer...

there are many serious environments for serious programmers doing 
serious jobs for serious reasons. but there are not many things like 
Squeak, both well grounded in quality, fun and lively, even in the look: 
childish, not serious at all, but tremendously interesting and a real 
catalyst for creativity and experimentation.

so when I read over and over people complaining that it does not look 
serious enough, my feeling is: why, how come these people are doing 
Squeak in the first place ? can't they leave us alone having fun with 
our non-serious, colorful, clumsy, unclean mess of great software ?

some people want to kill morphic, others want only to kill etoys, others 
yet what to clean up everything with weapons of mass refactoring, more 
people just want to get rid of all colors and kill the mouse, which they 
did (you know, the animated mouse head with following eyes we had up to 
3.8, which is the first thing my young children see when I work in 
squeak; and sometime I let them play with it).

I know I'm pushing the thing too far here and that things are not so 
simple. but at times I feel the need to state publicly that among all 
you people serious and professional (who I actually do respect, with 
your own expectations), among *us* there are people like me who like 
Squeak as it is, messy and fun and colorful.

the sentence I (over-?)reacted to was the following:

  "As a professional programmer used to other tools like Eclipse, Visual 
Studio, Dolphin, Visual Age - the bar is quite high and Squeak struggles 
to attract new blood in its default incarnation."

see the bits in it:
"professional programmer" ... so what ? any better than me ?
"used to other tools like Eclipse, Visual Studio, Dolphin, Visual Age" 
... so why change ?
"the bar is quite high" ... because we all have to do the same things in 
the same way, with the same interface and the same look and feel ?
"Squeak struggles to attract new blood" .. ah yes I forgot, we are in a 
cruel world were struggle and competition rule, it's a war actually; 
Squeak needs more blood else, else, else what ? what kind of blood 
should we perfuse ?

... so, no personal attack intented, and with all respect due to its 
author who I do not know at all, this sentence summarize a lot of what I 
think heads Squeak to the direction of insignifiance: pushing it in the 
Right Tracks, dumb, grey, boring and professional. for what ? who is 
going to win anything when all colors are gone ?

Squeak is an amazing, unique environment demonstrating a very unique way 
to do programming. if it was not unique, I would not care that it 
becomes a standard development tool for serious people. but since it is 
unique, I feel compelled to answer back when what I feel is part of its 
paradigm, nature, originality is threatened. but of course that's just me.


that's it, sorry for the noise...


Stef