Posted by Christopher J. Demers on Mar 15, 2005; 7:26pm
URL: https://forum.world.st/Is-dolphin-dying-tp3373403p3373425.html

"mario bancos" <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:[hidden email]...
> 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

Too late for whom?  I don't think that a large percentage of Dolphin users
are running it on web servers or intend to do so.  It would seem to me that
there are already other Smalltalks in more dominant positions in those
areas.  I see Dolphin as a really excellent environment for writing
stand-alone or client programs.

> 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

I was eager to play with Dolphin 6.0.  But I really did not have any need
for it, Dolphin 5 works very well for my needs.  I don't feel that I have
lost any competitive advantage vs other Smalltalk distributions, rather I
have benefited from what Dolphin is: a great environment for developing
stand-alone Windows programs.  The other large Smalltalk distributions
always had more bells and whistles than Dolphin.  I did not need most of
them then, and still don't.  Dolphin Smalltalk was better for my needs
developing stand-alone Windows programs than competing products were.

.Net is interesting.  It might be cool if Dolphin supported that.  However
there would be disadvantages also.  My understanding is that a fairly large
support package is required for .Net applications.  I would not want my
deployment process to become more complex unless I really needed the
benefits .Net offers.

Market trends can be tricky.  Sometimes they represent real innovation, and
sometimes they just represent marketing innovation.  I tend to take a
cautious view of market trends.  For a while Java was the big deal, now .Net
is the big deal.  I was happy with Dolphin while Java was the big deal and I
am still happy while .Net is the bid deal.

> 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.

Someone mentioned a $500 price tag for VW, but as far as I know they still
want royalties for distributing products developed in it.  But price is not
the biggest reason I chose Dolphin.  I really like the way the system works
and feels.  I like that it really feels like a native Windows application.

I think that people should choose the best tool for the job.  For me,
developing stand-alone Windows applications, Dolphin still seems to be the
best tool.  If I had to develop server software I might choose a different
Smalltalk.

Object Arts does not try to be all things to all people.  For now I am happy
with the trade-offs they have made.  However I am not a blind loyalist.  If
something much better for my business comes along I will evaluate it.
Object-Arts needs to remain competitive in its own market space (it is
fairly unique amongst Smalltalks).

Chris