The Weekly Squeak

Mark Guzdial and Georgia Tech used to be boosters of Squeak and Smalltalk. This article explains why they dropped Smalltalk. It comes complete with a post from Alan Kay:

http://computinged.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/lisp-and-smalltalk-are-dead-its-c-all-the-way-down/

It’s clear that Georgia Tech feels it is being both practical and prudent. They have made their world smaller. They aspire to live in a world without doubt. They would have their program provide certainties, not questions. Somebody in a board meeting likely said that students should get a better “return on investment” on the tens of thousands they pay. That is certainly true if the students aspire to be ready-to-fit employees in a corporate programming environment.

Real money is made in innovation. Doubt is an ingredient of the creative process. Innovators aspire to live in as large a world as possible. To shrink one’s world is to shed possibilities.

If Georgia Tech actually told its Reddit-reading freshman students that they will only ever be employees – never owners of a business built on fresh ideas – how many would cheer?