Newsgroups: comp.lang.beta,comp.lang.lisp Path: news.daimi.aau.dk!news.uni-c.dk!sunic!ugle.unit.no!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!eunet.no!nuug!EU.net!uunet!sytex!smcl From: smcl@sytex.com (Scott McLoughlin) Subject: Re: Comparison: Beta - Lisp Message-ID: Sender: bbs@sytex.com Organization: Sytex Access Ltd. References: Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 07:04:46 GMT Lines: 46 Xref: news.daimi.aau.dk comp.lang.beta:92 comp.lang.lisp:13366 simon@rheged.dircon.co.uk (Simon Brooke) writes: > Out there in the real world, there are n (where n > 20, probably) > people sitting in front of a Windows box for every one person sitting > in front of a real computer. So if you write a program in Visual > BASIC, you'll be able to sell it. You won't be able to maintain it, of > course, but that's the customer's problem. > > If you write a program in a real language for a real computer, *unless > you can port it to Windows (or windows NT, or Windows 95, or whatever > other dreck Bill Gates decides to unload on the uneducated next)* you > are not going to sell it. I know. I set up a company in 1988 to > develop knowledge engineering tools. I said to myself 'the PC isn't > powerful enough to do what I want to do, so I'll develop tools for > real computers'. There were other mistakes I made, but I think it was > that one that cost me the company... Howdy, Exactly. I suspect that N is much > 20 if you don't count bank machines ;-) Now, how do we get the "real languages" in use on not so real Windows boxes? What exactly _is_ the "political economy" of commercial dynamic language implementations. We've got a $49 "Personal Eiffel". Is anyone out there working in a "Personal Lisp" or "Personal Scheme" or "Personal Dylan" or "Personal ML"???? If not -- Why Not? Were all the venture capitalists "burned" in the 80's AI hyped up binge? Do the implementors have a comfy niche with Govt contracts and research grants, so why bother? Are these languages so hard to implement (well) that the economics simply won't bear a low cost implementation (with CL it's imaginable!) to price conscious consumers? Is the marketing channel blocked by MS and Borland and Watcom and a few others, so product just can't get out the door? Anyway, with FrameMaker selling cheap on PC's and Interleaf coming to a Windows box near you and Intergraph running on NT and ... All the $$ workstation software is (1) coming to PC's and then fairly quickly thereafter (2) dropping in price. What about languages? If not, why not? ps. Sorry to hear about your company. ============================================= Scott McLoughlin Conscious Computing =============================================