different alternatives for lispOS

David Gadbois gadbois@cyc.com
Fri, 25 Apr 1997 10:52:20 -0500 (CDT)


Here is my "I want" list.

I want a system that is Lisp "all the way down."

I want to liberate all those smart Lisp hackers out there who are
currently slaving away at Win32 and UNIX.

I want to to new stuff instead of slavishly repeating decades-old
mistakes.

I want a system where you spend 5% of the time fighting the system and
95% doing useful work instead of the other way around.

I want that cool sense you get in Genera where you can wave your magic
wand to move the world and still feel the bits between your toes.

I want a system where you can actually fix problems quickly instead of
waiting for the next release or spending days getting things lined up
so you can figure out what went wrong.

I want to be able to hack a running device driver, hit c-sh-c, and
have the new version installed and running rather than waiting 10
minutes for the kernel to compile and reboot.

I want bragging rights to folks who claim Lisp is no good for
system-level work and not have to reminisce about 10-year-old lispms.

I want to lower the barrier to entry to enthusiastic newbies so they
can do cool stuff easily.

I want not to have any reason to say "I want" but just do it instead.

--David Gadbois