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Why Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt?
written by Peter William Lount

Steve Hirch wrote:

Hi,

I've been perusing this group [comp.lang.smalltalk] silently for a while. I constantly see fear, uncertainty and doubt spread about ST. My question is, why?

If ST is so marginal, why bother? Why go to the trouble of aliasing your name and posting FUD? What is it about ST that bothers some people. To an outside observer, it seems that people spread lies about ObjectShare. If it is in such dire shape, it'll collapse on its own.

Perhaps it is just a few people who like to yank chains. Perhaps some people can't stand that other people really, really like something that they don't. Who knows?

ST is a good environment, if you can afford the resources necessary for OO development. I was very sceptical at first, but it won me over. However, it wasn't as lucrative as other tools, so I switched. If I ever had the opportunity to pick a tool for client side development, and I had the resources for OO, I'd use it. Why is it so important (in a negative way) to other people?

Steve

I replied:
Why Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt?

Because they feel their own fear, uncertainty and doubt and they don't know what to do with these feelings? Or they are just pulling your chain for the fun of it - which is a symptom of some deeper fear, uncertainty and doubts in their life.

Could it be that they are fearing what will happen, they are uncertain how to proceed and they doubt that they can survive?

They promote their own Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt recast and polished into technospeak and marketing bable to feed you so that you feel your own Fear, Uncertainties and Doubts.

It's a basic human desire to communicate how you feel with a twist of having others feel the same as you.

These three emotions are actually very powerful and can assist and guide you through difficult times. Rather than hiding from them, embrace them, learn and grow.

Fear is your friend, it tells you that there is danger or potential danger.

Uncertainty comes before certainty. Keep asking questions to fully explore the situation.

Doubt is the sharp awareness of alternative valid possibilities.

When I started the http://www.smalltalk.org web site someone asked me "why invest your time, money, and energy into Smalltalk?" The person asking the question had given up on Smalltalk.

I have seen Smalltalk progress for almost 20 years of it's thirty year life and I mostly like what I see. I've used all kinds of other systems and I like the ability of Smalltalk to flex, bend, and reshape itself. I can express my thoughts in this language without the clutter of extra "gunk" to type. I am making Smalltalk into a system that I and my clients can use for the next 20, 30 or 50 years. It might not look the same as the Smalltalk you know today but it will have what is needed to get certain jobs done.

My fears inform me of dangers or potential dangers. I consider the responses and correct my course. I plan a strategy that is independent of the future of any Smalltalk vendor or other software vendor for that matter. All software systems that keep up with "the inexorable push forward in technology" change. Products from Smalltalk vendors have not been immune from this industry wide phenomenon. The key question is "how do they change without destroying your investment and theirs"? People fear loosing their investment. This fear create uncertainties and doubts.

What are your fears warning you of? What questions do you need to ask and answer to find your certainty? What valid alternatives do you doubts raise? Explore these questions and the answers that come to your mind before jumping on the first answer. After a while you can develop a strategy that will fit your unique situation that incorporates your fears, uncertainties and doubts as bio feed back sensors to enable your strength and success.