Re: Sun buys Java compiler technology based upon Self!!!

[Jecel Assumpcao Jr <jecel@lsi.usp.br>]

> The resulting curve has a dip near r=10. For large companies the 100
> meter range is more like 1000, but even then the minimum only moves out
> to about 20 meters.
> 
> So the bottom line is the two phenomena combine to give one effect. The
> "invented by a regular guy but I don't understand it" syndrome. Minimum
> at 10 to 20 meters.
> 
> IBARGBIDUI
> 
> I believe Self suffers in Sun from IBARGBIDUI.

You forgot an important term in your equation. We can call it the
"can anything good come out of Nazareth?" syndrome. The initial
part of the curve would look like you drew it, but it would dip
down again at a distant corresponding to the borders of California
(in this case) and rising again at a much larger distance. I mean,
would the Animorphic guys be taken seriously if they were from
(for example) Albuquerque, New Mexico?

Too bad the parameters for your curve are very different in Brazil
(probably something to do with the water rotating the other way
when going down the drain):
it takes a deep dive to nearly zero at about 3 meters and actually
becomes negative at a distance of 400Km (corresponding to the
Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro area) and only rises sharply after
at least 5000Km.

Seriously, though, I think that what happens with Self is part of
an overall strategy by Sun to sacrifice the long term for the
mid term results. What gives me this impression is how Spring OS
was effectively shelved to avoid worrying customers who just had
suffered through the SunOS to Solaris transition. As Sun is
leading a transition from C++ to Java, some might have felt
that Self represented an unneeded distraction.

A friend of mine says we should never explain as planning what
sheer stupidity can easily account for. And no one can control
everything - Netscape pushed JavaScript into a role that Sun
had intended for TCL, for example. But the previous paragraph
is how things look to me. And the troubles Smalltalk is going
through right now (more perceived than real) probably hurts
Self as well.

-- Jecel