Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!unido!opal!db0tui11!muhrth From: MUHRTH@tubvm.cs.tu-berlin.de (Thomas Muhr) Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk Subject: Re: Interface Builders? Message-ID: <90341.114319MUHRTH@DB0TUI11.BITNET> Date: 7 Dec 90 09:43:19 GMT References: <12393@milton.u.washington.edu> Organization: Technical University Berlin Lines: 32 In article , objtch@extro.ucc.su.oz.au (Peter Goodall) says: >Why is the Smalltalk-80 world obsessed by big prices. I'm sure >you would sell 100 times as many for $350.00. Unless of course >the product is rough or difficult to use, and requires constant >support One reason could be that the total number of installations is not considered to be of considerable magnitude: profit = price * installations The negative aspect of this pessimistic marketing strategy is that it works like a self fulfilling prophecy. Other companies have success with the optimistic strategy (Borland, MicroSoft) and have thus established standardsI wonder why IBM has chosen Digitalk as a partner and not the "industry standard for Smalltalk". What interface builders concerns: There is a very promising package called Widgets as an add-on to Smalltalk V/286 which resembles the widget-orientation of PM and Windows. It goes for 149 $ and is a remar- kable example of introducing a new and effective framework into the unnatural (as far as non-simulation-problems are concerned) MVC approach of bare Smalltalk. We will use the system as an intermediary before switching to Smalltalk V/Windows (hurry up, Digitalk!). Widgets provides Windows 3 like look and feel and should be considered for all developments including extensive man-machine-interaction. - Thomas >ObjecTech P/L >162 Burns Bay Rd, >LANE COVE , NSW, AUSTRALIA >objtch@extro.ucc.su.oz.au ------- Thomas Muhr, Technical University of Berlin, BITNET: muhrth@db0tui11 Project ATLAS - Computer Based Tools for Qualitative Research "Computers, like every technology, are a vehicle for the transformation of tradition." (WINOGRAD/FLORES)