(from [1])


Hi--

      My first priority is to finish putting the Squeak project on a 
solid legal footing. Through membership in the Software Freedom 
Conservancy, the project will be able to receive tax-exempt donations. 
We can use that money to fund our infrastructure (e.g., servers and 
connectivity), as well as system development and outreach. I have been 
working with the Conservancy toward our membership, and would like to 
see this to completion.

      With the initial Squeak release now available under a common 
open-source license, and agreements from most of our contributors, the 
most pressing task is to make a new release composed entirely of 
appropriately-licensed material. I would like to choose and lead a 
release team to accomplish this task. I think we should also take this 
opportunity to create the next major release, Squeak 4. It is long past 
time that we incorporate several major improvements to the system, and 
make real progress in modularity.

      We've had regular leadership elections for three years now; this 
is a very good thing. So far, though, I don't think the elections have 
resulted in clear technical mandates, mostly because the candidates 
haven't advocated strong technical positions. In my own case, I've been 
hesitant to advocate my own modularity work[2] when running for the 
board, because I haven't finished implementing it. I think we need a 
mandate now with regard to modularity, so that we can keep the releases 
well-organized in the future after going to the trouble of our 
relicensing effort.

      Let's turn our attention to Squeak 4 now. Let's create a kernel 
with nothing extraneous in it, and a module system we can use to keep 
the organization clear. I think the result will be much easier to learn, 
and far more pleasant to use. Getting there will be difficult, but it 
will be worth it.

      Please do contact me with any questions or feedback.


      thanks!

      Craig Latta

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[1] http://people.squeakfoundation.org/article/82.html
[2] http://netjam.org/spoon