> Günther Schmidt <[hidden email]> wrote in message news:<42365c79$[hidden email]>...
>
>>Peter schrieb:
>>
>>>I'm contemplating an idea of buying Dolphin Smalltalk XP Pro. But I
>>>could not help but notice some signs of deterioration on object-arts
>>>web site: outdated content (6.0 is still promised to be released at the
>>>end of 2004), difficult navigation, documentation for 5.0 is missing
>>>for more than a year, etc.
>>>I just don't want to invest in a company that will seize to exist soon.
>>>On the other hand the product itself looks solid and well done, and by
>>>all means the most available among commercial Smalltalk implementation.
>>>
>>>Could someone confirm/dispel my concerns please ?
>>>
>>>Peter.
>>>
>>
>>
>>Peter,
>>
>>a few months ago similar thoughts ran through my head as I also considered buying a license, and apart of 350 USD leaving quite a gap in my budget, of course one also has to consider the effort of learning something new that hopefully pays of some day.
>>
>>I eventualy bought a license and haven't regreted it. AFAIK the people from object arts are focusing on some sort of trading software for either selling it or using it themselves, don't know which is true and don't realy care. However that software seems to be based / developed with Dolphin itself.
>>
>>IMHO Dolphin 6 is thus eventualy going to show up, no rush as far as I'm concerned, DST 5 is already better than anything I've seen sofar.
>>
>>One thing I don't realy have hope for is an improvement on documentation, but please guys, surprise me! ;-)
>>
>>
>>Günther
>
>
>
> Ok. But don't you think when it arrives it will be too late. Now
> Dolphin XP  doesn't have any official Web Framework besides some
> goodie you can find ported to, or ready to port. Dolphin XP (5.0) is 3
> years old (if I'm not wrong), now we are in 5.1.4 but this is only
> because fixed bugs in the VM or in the Smalltalk code. Using Dolphin
> XP you lost competitivity versus other Smalltalk distributions, and
> other languages. Furthermore don't you think that a year delay in any
> technology product is to much. Now every development tool is facing
> the .Net or Mono integration, as other Smalltalk distributions. I
> think (only based in the list post) that D6 will not have any .Net
> integration (neither Mono). So maybe OA is perfectioning D6, but If D6
> don't follow any market trends, Dolphin will die even though the
> perfectionism that all of obsessive-compulsive programmers suffer. On
> the other hand, don't you think the (cheaper) VW per year licences is
> a marketing decision to win in the low budget segment of the Smalltalk
> market, where Dolphin, MT and VS (another St. ditribution killed by
> Cincom) are the principal rivals.