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Re: Are there any .NET possibilities/implications for Dylan/Functional Developer?

On Mon, 25 Jun 2001 04:57:39 -0400 (EDT), Jason Trenouth
<jason.trenouth@globalgraphics.com> wrote:

>Try reading "Crossing the Chasm" and see where you think you fit into the
>groups of possible adopters of new technology.

Why should I?  There are way more books out there than I could ever possibly
read.  What possible reason could I have for giving that one a higher
priority than thousands of others?  Especially if it's a book giving
someone's opinion about different people adopting new technology.  I can find
that kind of opinion all over Usenet, but it's not usually very enlightening.

And why should I consider Dylan to be new technology?  Most of what people
consider new in it was actually borrowed from Lisp/Scheme.  My interest in
Dylan is that it seems like it might be a slightly better variation of
Lisp/Scheme.  But not enough better to bother with it when the sole
commercial vendor is flaking out.  In my opinion the Dylan community would be
more cohesive and robust without Functional Objects.  A lot of people now
spending time on Functional Developer would spend time on Gwydion Dylan
instead, and possibly improve it enough to start making Dylan popular again.
The amount of time spent on Dylan might increase dramatically, because a lot
of Functional Developer users probably over the past year have been slowing
down because of discouragement about the state of Functional Objects.

I think you missed my point.  I hope you're starting to get it now.  The
point is that I'm disgusted with Functional Objects because they seem to be
flaking out and killing the prospects of any reasonable future for Dylan.  I
think a lot of other people agree with me.  If Functional Objects could get
acquired by a company that would put a reasonable amount of effort into
promoting Dylan, it could make all the difference in the world to the future
of Dylan.  Meanwhile Functional Objects should make their current version
completely free, to try to keep the momentum going long enough for some other
company to become interested before Dylan dies out completely.  But of course
they won't.  Their anti-future attitude is part of their flaking out.  If
they didn't have that attitude, they wouldn't be flaking out in the first
place.
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