Rather than view my posts as accusatory, you should view them as trying to steer the collective thinking of a large group toward a more promising direction...which is exactly what they are. My analysis of the situation is objective, *not defamatory*. I see what's wrong with the status quo and I look for possible solutions.
It is precisely because of limited funding and influence that a group such as yours should be more creative and openminded in how to advance the cause of Smalltalk. For example, I have no resources whatsoever, but in my own way, I've tried hard to advocate for Smalltalk using a marketing strategy. I use whatever is available to me /for free/. I publish articles that are sometimes controversial, but always thought-provoking. *They draw attention to Smalltalk.* They spur debate. Ultimately, the goal is to get people to /think/ about Smalltalk. Otherwise, it gets forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind. Okay, it's good that Pharo is being taught in some schools. But how many schools are there in the world, and how many are NOT teaching Pharo? Look at the United States and Canada, for example. Despite the evangelizing efforts so far, the needle hasn't moved for Smalltalk. At least, not in any way measurable to the public. At some point, one has to ask, "is this working?", and if not, "how can we do things differently?" Why are you afraid to ask these questions? Smalltalk is not a religion. The goal is not to conquer all programmers, nor all programming tasks. But increasing the breadth of applicability so that Smalltalk benefits more of the IT world is surely a worthy ambition. *Right now, it's barely a blip on the radar of most businesses.* That can't be a satisfactory state of affairs. In terms of this discussion, yes, size is everything. Smalltalk's library ecosystem is demonstrably weak. (I dare you to ask me to provide an example.) Why is this okay? A strong ecosystem would make Smalltalk/Pharo much more useful to many more people in the IT world. And how do you build a strong ecosystem? By growing the user community sufficiently large. We've seen this scenario play out over and over and over again...with Python...with Java...with JavaScript...with Scala...and soon with Go. That's why popularity matters. Please, I'm not attacking anyone. I'm trying to change the direction of an ocean liner because I believe it's not moving in the right direction. Obviously, this is a monumental task. One last point: If Stephan's Wardley maps have been used by Pharo recently, then I submit they haven't had the desired effects. Unless Pharo's status quo *is* the desired outcome, in which case, I find that sad. -- View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/PharoJVM-tp4866633p4866783.html Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
