It looks like we might be, baby step by baby step, finally bringing Smalltalk back into the Enterprise.

For years, Smalltalk has been standing around outside of Club Enterprise, looking in the door and shuffling his feet, trying to get the attention of someone to let him in. Meanwhile, CTOs and consultants have been standing around the door of the club, laughing at Smalltalk and making sure that he stays on the outside, where they think he belongs.

It's been a rough few years, but suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, this new kid Ruby has come along and kicked in the door of the club. He's inside and partying now. Everywhere, people are starting new projects using Ruby. He's the popular kid. Everybody loves him.

But there is a problem. A big problem. Ruby is slow. Ruby is by far the slowest guy at the club. He can't keep up with C# and Java and their fancy dancing. It seems like no matter how hard he tries, he's always a step or two behind.

So Ruby looks out the door and notices Smalltalk. "Hey" he thinks, "Maybe I can borrow Smalltalk's shoes. They look really nice, and I bet that they would make me a lot faster." So he goes over and has a little chat with Smalltalk. "Hey buddy, why not let me borrow a pair of your shoes? I'll get you into the club, as long as you just sit in the corner quietly and don't do anything."

Finally! This is the opening that Smalltalk has been looking for! He's been trying to get back into this club for years, and he's finally going back inside!

So he gives Ruby a pair of his shoes and follows him inside and sits down in the corner to watch the action. Unfortunantly there's another problem. Smalltalk's shoes don't fit Ruby. They're way too big and, besides, Ruby's feet are shaped differently from Smalltalk's. (In fact, no one can even really tell how they're shaped.) So a group of people in the club go to work fixing up the shoes for Ruby.

This is where we're at today. Smalltalk is just hanging around and no one is really paying attention to him yet.

But they will.

It's too hard to not notice all of the cool stuff that he brings to the table. He's been around forever and he's got a lot of cool tricks up his sleeve. For now though, he'll have to wait, just like he's been doing for years.

Let's all hope that people start noticing him soon.

Comments