[throwaway7645]

Lol, I assumed a joke immediately due to the figure and subject, but forgot the date for a second :)

Edit: I don't think Smalltalk is a joke, just that HP wouldn't think this a worthy investment.

[pacaro]

I think "Sun Microsystems marketing muscle" was what made me raise an eyebrow

[throwaway7645]

They did spend a fortune marketing Java when Smalltalk was poised to be THE new enterprise language.

[pacaro]

I remember all too well. Sun had mindshare at the time too, in a way that the far bigger IBM didn't. I'm just glad none of the 4GLs won

[throwaway7645]

I'll cede my past reading of internet blog articles describing a time I was pooping in diapers to your actual real-world experience :)

2 questions..why did the smaller Sun have more mindshare and what were the 4GLs? I might not be familiar with the term.

[pacaro]

The Fourth Generation Languages where supposed to take over from the Third Generation Languages (C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, COBOL etc.) for higher level work (like business computing)

Many have been successful within niches, but Java was a brand new 3GL at a time when a lot of industry focus was on 4GLs.

I think sun had mindshare because they understood the nascent internet much better. From my perspective it was the first time I had seen a marketing effort of that scale behind a programming language.

Sun also supported SunSITE which was pretty much the best place to find FOSS at the time

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-generation_programming_...

[throwaway7645]

Interesting thanks!

[igouy]

Back in the day.

(To appreciate the joke, check-out which companies had Smalltalk development).