Does anyone remember details of a "pro-Smalltalk" merger circa 2013?

I heard an anecdote of a recent merger between two companies in which one had over 200 people supporting a Java application and the other had ~25 people supporting a Smalltalk application. The surprising result was that the Smalltalk application was selected for the merged company rather than the Java one.

I would like to know which companies were involved, when this occurred, and what the precise details were.


Thank you!

Did this jog loose any memories for anyone?

This was very unusual - normally the manager with the biggest department ends up being the most influential.

Luckily, Smalltalk remains a more productive environment.  Unluckily, this means we are generally going to be the smaller department in these situations.

EuanM wrote

Did this jog loose any memories for anyone?

Yes. It was Chris Thorgrimsson of Lam Research. At ESUG 2011, he talked of their acquisition of Novellus.

Ultimately, team size did not matter in the technology choice, and after all was said and done, the ratio was closer to 2:1.

Richard Sargent wrote

It was Chris Thorgrimsson of Lam Research

Ah, yes! We were at Camp Smalltalk in Portland this year. Cool guy, interesting company.