>Would be interesting to know why this platform is not more widespread.
Yes, it would, and also interesting to know how much work is available using Smalltalk / Pharo these days. I looked at the success page, there seem to be some slick apps there (on a brief look).
As an employee I do not know. But as an entrepreneur or self employed developer providing solutions, there are quite a few successful people.
Maybe they are flying under the radar.
Yes, there are some slick apps being done, with no need for a legion to deliver a sizeable piece of functionality.
Pharo forked from Squeak because it wanted to be a vehicle to deliver business value for real and not just be a research ground. Version 6 is a significant milestone in that direction. Iceberg (Git tool) was funded by the consortium. http://consortium.pharo.org/ Check the industrial members, this is no small fish.
Yes, it would, and also interesting to know how much work is available using Smalltalk / Pharo these days. I looked at the success page, there seem to be some slick apps there (on a brief look).