From ... From: Erik Naggum Subject: Re: LispWorks status Date: 1999/11/03 Message-ID: <3150645548242292@naggum.no>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 544068078 References: <38207FAA.42ED@schemas.sdsu.edu> mail-copies-to: never X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@eunet.no X-Trace: oslo-nntp.eunet.no 941656748 25912 195.0.192.66 (3 Nov 1999 19:19:08 GMT) Organization: Naggum Software; +47 8800 8879 or +1 510 435 8604; fax: +47 2210 9077; http://www.naggum.no NNTP-Posting-Date: 3 Nov 1999 19:19:08 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp * Eric Scott | I'm considering getting LispWorks for my (NT) computer at home. I'm | aware that Harlequin was recently acquired by another company. Does | anyone have reliable information as to that company's continued long-term | support of LispWorks? what is generally known is that the company that bought Harlequin had no idea what Lisp was good for, but started a learning process some time ago to figure it all out, which is a very good sign: there is no evidence to suggest that they will treat the Lisp side of the business lightly or to dismiss it out of hand. Lisp made good money for Harlequin, and there is ample reason to believe in the sanity of the people who bought Harlequin -- and they aren't in it for the quick buck, so it is very unlikely that they will be attempting to sell it off to somebody who is willing to pay as much for it as the current owners could make over the next few years. ML and Dylan were scuttled because they actually failed to make money. what I understand from what I have heard, and not all of that has been fully public or officially supported, is that ML and Dylan sucked the value out of the language group, which Lisp funded well for itself, but not sufficiently for a sibling language, let alone two. (it's ironic that Lucid died for the same stupid reason: some quick-bucketeers tried to make Lisp pay for C++ development, not out of a healthy surplus, but out of the operations budgets.) although I think you should use Franz Inc's Allegro CL because I find it technically superior in ways that are important to me, but which may not be important to you, so I won't bother you with them, you should have no fear for the future of Lispworks and should base your decision on equal trust in the staying power of both Franz Inc and Harlequin. after all, Lisp was but a part of Harlequin, and the problems they had were not due to Lisp in any way. once again, actually, Lisp has suffered somewhat from being in less-than-optimal company through no fault of its own. #:Erik