But it's not just that.
The image was actually a big turn off even back then, even before source control was even a thing.
Even today, Smalltalk runtimes (e.g. Pharo) are extremely slow compared to other languages, now imagine how slow Smalltalk was forty years ago... I can tell you, it was very, very slow (I used it on NeXT back then). I'm talking "watch the window draw with your naked eye" slow.
It doesn't feel slow to me. I regularly use the VM on a Raspberry Pi and the GUI is snappy. On that same system I even use it to solve algorithmic puzzles, and I've been more often surprised that it isn't as slow as I had expected.
So yeah, I'm sure it isn't the fastest language out there. However, "extremely slow" compared to other languages? It beats Python and Ruby most of the time. [1]
[1] https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/...
"… it is possible to write time critical, real-time applications while still maintaining access to the user-interface facilities of Smalltalk. In the ESM testbed, C language support has been provided both by a package of C-to-Smalltalk communication primitives, and by high-level C code debugging facilities accessible from the Smalltalk environment."
1987 "USING OBJECTS TO DESIGN AND BUILD RADAR ESM SYSTEM'S" p200
Nothing, because I never said anything of the sort.
What I did say was that Smalltalk has always been very slow compared to other languages. It was true decades ago, it's still true today.
Sadly I have this experience on a daily basis with Windows 10's file explorer. I ran XP in a VM today and was amazed that explorer windows not only open instantly, but fully drawn. In W10 it takes half a second to even respond, and then another half second while it draws the UI elements one by one.
March 7, 1988 — "Smalltalk/V 286 is available now and costs $199.95, the company said. Registered users of Digitalk's Smalltalk/V can upgrade for $75 until June 1."
https://books.google.com/books?id=CD8EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA25&ots=...
> … I can tell you, it was very, very slow…
And of-course you used the Smalltalk profiler to fix that?
Here's the "Smalltalk/V 286" Digitalk License Statement —
http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/SmalltalkVTutorial...
And by 1991, with Smalltalk/V Windows and Smalltalk/V PM — "Smalltalk/V code is portable between the Windows and the OS/2 versions. And the resulting application carries no runtime charges. All for just $499.95."
(Advert on the last page of "The Smalltalk Report")
https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/Archives/TheSmalltalkRepor...
September 1991 "The Smalltalk Report" p25
https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/Archives/TheSmalltalkRepor...