> kilon.alios wrote >> I think that is why its difficult to bring pharo to diffirent platforms, >> the mentality of pharo and mentality of smalltalk is so specific that does >> not fit easily into other platforms.
On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 5:45 AM, horrido <horrido.hobb...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yes, the mentality of Pharo has not escaped my attention. > > This mentality says that "if you build it, they will come." Yes they are coming... http://consortium.pharo.org/ > Keep improving the platform and eventually people will find it. > **Or not.** You don't really care. (As an aside, **how** will they find it???) > This mentality sequesters Pharo within its boutique or clubhouse. The tool > is used only by a limited cadre of exuberant fans, and outsiders, while > they're welcome to join, *will not be missed if they go elsewhere*. > This mentality says that the *size* of the Pharo community is not especially > important. Big, small, or medium...you don't really care, as long as > *you're* having a good time with Pharo. The problem with this mentality is > that **a healthy library ecosystem is dependent upon a user community that > grows large enough to support it**. But fast growth also has its problems... https://www.groovehq.com/blog/scaling Particularly see point 1) "Scaling Shifts Your Team’s Focus" I believe Pharo is still in a stage where it needs a lot of agility. IF there was suddenly a large influx of newbies, then EITHER: * the experts spend *all* their time answering newbie questions and not moving the platform forward (with a wider pool of disruptive opinions) OR... * the newbies are ignored, get a bad experience, leave, and then "tell everyone else about it". Currently early adopters of Pharo get the benefit of great support from a direct line with the experts, which enhances their good experience which they can report to others. However it takes time to grow a community to have a range of middle experience levels to buffer the experts so they can continue to do *real* work to drive the platform forward. No matter how much you do on marketing, you can't get away from the reality that sustainable *community* growth takes time. > In other words, until the user community reaches **critical mass**, a strong > library ecosystem will not develop. Without a strong ecosystem, the breadth > of applicability to various problem domains is severely limited. But you don't reach critical mass until the library ecosystem is sufficient for the masses. Its catch-22. This "bring them and they will build it" has similar trouble as you concern against "build it and the will come". But if you can serve some limited domains very well, maybe you get enough funds to provide time to build a broader library ecosystem. http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/build-your-business-one-customer-at-a-time.html cheers -ben
