I think most people here know all this. But sometimes they forget the richness of Smalltalk history, the stuff in the image, and the stability they are purchasing. Many bright people have had lots of years to kick the tires, find problems and fix things. {1999 note look at where squeak is going/coming from} Certainly Smalltalk is not marketed as Billy's 'just good enuf software'. To solve the problem, I needed a stable environment to work with.... And time was SHORT. Besides, if I got into a corner, I knew a number of senior Smalltalkers that could assist me in getting out of the corner. Later I asked some of them if I had done somthing unusual, yes they say I was a crazy Canadian. On the other hand it did work so don't underestimate the power of the tool or the problems you can solve.