[ANSI-Smalltalk] squeakers

[Bruce Badger]

I'll second Craig's "well put".

> 1) eToys (and Scratch) users

Even though this group are unlikely to be turned on by Smalltalk
standards work I would hope that a standard would be a boon to them
because even this group will touch Smalltalk from time to time and may
be able to take advantage of portable Smalltalk libraries in the
future.  So I would not expect enthusiastic engagement from this
group, but I would not be too surprised if a people from the group
showed an interest.

> 2) free Smalltalk-80 camp

Getting people engaged in standards work is likely to be hard even if
the people *ought* to be interested.  This applies just as much to the
commercial Smalltalk crowd as the "free Smalltalk-80 camp" of
Squeakers.  I think the key here is to keep the process open and let
everyone know what is happening (or not happening, even) so that
people can pick up the thread and get involved when their current
interests overlap with something that needs doing for the standard.

IMO, one of most important groups we need to involve are those working
on in-house projects.  The projects, and thus the companies, would
surely benefit from having a richer Smalltalk ecosystem.  Getting
these people involved will also be tricky.

> 3) the "inventing the future" guys

I too hope that we'll see something beyond Smalltalk one day.  I mean,
this can't be it.  We can't possibly have arrived at the perfect
language already.

Having a stable Smalltalk platform should not inhibit this group,
rather I would expect it to be a boon, much as it would be for the
EToys group.

I agree with your point that we need to make clear that a standard is
not a straitjacket, it's just a region of consistency that can be used
as a baseline if that is useful - and it will be useful to the
*Smalltalk* community IMO and may be useful to the *beyond Smalltalk*
community too.

For all the groups you have identified, I think the best way to work
with them is to get on with work on the standard and while doing that
invite (and listen to!) comment from the broader Smalltalk world.

All the best,
    Bruce
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