[comp.lang.smalltalk] INFOWORLD, Smalltalk-80 4.0

benson@blake.u.washington.edu (Dan Benson) (09/18/90)

For those Smalltalkers who missed it, here is the article from
page 24 of INFOWORLD, September 10, 1990.

---- begin -----------------------------------------------------------
Platform-Independent Smalltalk Release 4.0 To Ship in November

Parc Place Systems expects to ship in November Objectworks Smalltalk,
Release 4.0, which features code portability between Windows, the
Macintosh, and several Unix X Window systems.

The New release will let developers transparently port code between
Windows 3.0 and the Mac, as well as Sun Sparc stations, DEC DEC-Stations,
IBM RS/6000s, and Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apollo workstations running
X Window-based systems.  OS/2 support is in development, said Doug Pollack,
Parc Place sales and marketing vice president.

This version features true color support and incorporates the most
sophisticated graphics available on each system, Pollack said.

Mac and PC versions require a minimum of 4 megabytes of RAM; UNIX
systems require at least 8 megabytes.  Objectworks Smalltalk costs $3,500
and runtime licenses cost $350 each, with volume prices available. 
Windows 3.0 and RS/6000 versions are scheduled to ship in the first
quarter 1991.

Parc Place Systems, 1550 Plymouth St., Mountain View, CA  94043;
(415) 691-6700.

- Stuart Johnson
---- end -------------------------------------------------------------
--
| Dan Benson                        benson@ee.washington.edu    |
| Dept. of Elec. Engr., FT-10                                   |
| University of Washington          (206) 685-7567              |
| Seattle, WA  98195                                            |

ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) (09/18/90)

In <7696@milton.u.washington.edu> benson@blake.u.washington.edu (Dan Benson) writes:

>For those Smalltalkers who missed it, here is the article from
>page 24 of INFOWORLD, September 10, 1990.

>---- begin -----------------------------------------------------------
>Platform-Independent Smalltalk Release 4.0 To Ship in November

...


>Mac and PC versions require a minimum of 4 megabytes of RAM; UNIX
>systems require at least 8 megabytes.  Objectworks Smalltalk costs $3,500
>and runtime licenses cost $350 each, with volume prices available. 
>Windows 3.0 and RS/6000 versions are scheduled to ship in the first
>quarter 1991.

Just by way of contrast:  Smalltalk V/286 lists at $250, and schools
can get very inexpensive site licenses.  At least 2.5 meg of ram is
recommended, though not absolutely necessary.  And I would guess the
aforementioned product needs at least a 20mhz cpu and a 32-bit bus,
wheras Smalltalk V gets by on my old 6mhz system.  There are also
Presentation Manager and Mac versions.

Yes, it's a stripped down version of Smalltalk.  There's no free
lunch here.  But not everybody devlopes software that only runs on
$5,000 systems.


-- 

ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
{apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo	Silicon Valley, CA

Collins's Law:
	If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything.

Corollaries ("Rabinovitch's Rules of Sane Dialogue"):
	1. Everybody who matters is stupid now and then.
	2. If I'm being stupid, that's my problem.
	3. If my being stupid makes you stupid, that's your problem.
	4. If you think you're never stupid, boy are you stupid!

voss@sunc5.cs.uiuc.edu (09/19/90)

> Just by way of contrast:  Smalltalk V/286 lists at $250, and schools
> can get very inexpensive site licenses.

ParcPlace also offers very inexpensive site licenses to schools.

> Yes, it's a stripped down version of Smalltalk.  There's no free
> lunch here.  But not everybody devlopes software that only runs on
> $5,000 systems.

True, I prefer systems which cost more than $5,000.  ;-)
I've yet to meet a fellow Smalltalk hacker who prefers the baby systems!
Willing to use them -- YES, but honestly prefer them -- NO WAY.

Workstation (circa 1980) 1meg x 1mip x 1megapixel-mono
Workstation (circa 1990) 16meg x 16mip x 1megapixel-color
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNET: voss@cs.uiuc.edu             UUCP: uunet!uiucuxc!cs.uiuc.edu!voss

Bill Voss -- Graduate Student -- University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

warner@scubed.com (Ken Warner) (09/19/90)

In article <13364@netcom.UUCP> ergo@netcom.uucp writes:
>In <7696@milton.u.washington.edu> benson@blake.u.washington.edu (Dan Benson) writes:
>>For those Smalltalkers who missed it, here is the article from
>>page 24 of INFOWORLD, September 10, 1990.
>>---- begin -----------------------------------------------------------
>>Platform-Independent Smalltalk Release 4.0 To Ship in November
>>Mac and PC versions require a minimum of 4 megabytes of RAM; UNIX
>>systems require at least 8 megabytes.  Objectworks Smalltalk costs $3,500
>>and runtime licenses cost $350 each, with volume prices available. 
>
>Just by way of contrast:  Smalltalk V/286 lists at $250, and schools
>can get very inexpensive site licenses.  At least 2.5 meg of ram is
[stuff deleted]
>Yes, it's a stripped down version of Smalltalk.  There's no free
>lunch here.  But not everybody devlopes software that only runs on
>$5,000 systems.

Right on.  As one of the few professional (read: gets paid to) Smalltalk 
programmers in the world, I'd like to see Objectworks (aka Smalltalk) priced 
more reasonably.  In the long run, a high price will only limit the Smalltalk
population to the point where the Smalltalk community will never reach the
point of self-sustaining viability, to speak nothing of my options down the
road.  I've got a lot of time invested in my skills.  Will they be useful 3
years from now?

I'd hate to see such a beautiful environment die from lack of interest...but
it can.  Witness Symbolics' stuff.  Come on down ParcPlace, from your Ivory
Tower.

Ken Warner

ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) (09/20/90)

In <26900004@sunc5> voss@sunc5.cs.uiuc.edu writes:

>True, I prefer systems which cost more than $5,000.  ;-)
>I've yet to meet a fellow Smalltalk hacker who prefers the baby systems!
>Willing to use them -- YES, but honestly prefer them -- NO WAY.

Oh well, if economics is such a trivial matter, why not just get a
cray?

Alas, programmers have to program for the real world.  Then again,
some of us like it that way.
-- 

ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
{apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo	Silicon Valley, CA

Collins's Law:
	If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything.

Corollaries ("Rabinovitch's Rules of Sane Dialogue"):
	1. Everybody who matters is stupid now and then.
	2. If I'm being stupid, that's my problem.
	3. If my being stupid makes you stupid, that's your problem.
	4. If you think you're never stupid, boy are you stupid!

lgm@cbnewsc.att.com (lawrence.g.mayka) (09/25/90)

In article <426@scubed.SCUBED.COM>, warner@scubed.com (Ken Warner) writes:
> I'd hate to see such a beautiful environment die from lack of interest...but
> it can.  Witness Symbolics' stuff.  Come on down ParcPlace, from your Ivory
> Tower.

Symbolics is alive and profitable and busy shipping its XL1200 model.
Nevertheless, your observation that the general programming public is
unwilling to pay a top-notch price even for top-notch software (the
"bargain-basement" syndrome) is only too accurate.


	Lawrence G. Mayka
	AT&T Bell Laboratories
	lgm@iexist.att.com

Standard disclaimer.