Re: Could Haskell be taken over by Microsoft?

[Greg Michaelson]

If Microsoft can popularise the use of Haskell then we should welcome that
instead of pillorying Simon. It seems somewhat unreasonable to complain that:
a) the real world ignores well designed and engineered languages
b) real world use corrupts well designed and engineered languages
Languages which don't enter popular usage either disappear or moulder
in tiny temples, tended by ageing priests. Languages evolve in the true
Darwinian sense and the real world is a much more brutal fitness function
than academia.

If full strength Haskell isn't up to mass market software development then
why maintain its purity other than as an academic exercise? More to the point,
would a standard imperative notation sitting on top of monads really hurt
Haskell that much?

Greg Michaelson

PS from an SML enthusiast...

Step 4: MS Office is rewritten in Haskell. All PCs now require a minimum
        of 1GB RAM and a 2000 MHz CPU to run Solitaire...