Once Smalltalk was released into the wild by Xerox PARC, several companies tried to commercialize it, including IBM. The problem was that developers needed expensive workstations to develop and deployment required pricey run-time-environments and yet, the source code was difficult to hide from the users.
Then the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh were released. Both were cheaper than the workstations and the Mac even had the cool look of the Smalltalk desktop. For non-purists the new options were far more appealing even if they fell way short of the Smalltalk-80 environment's benefits.
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."
Then the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh were released. Both were cheaper than the workstations and the Mac even had the cool look of the Smalltalk desktop. For non-purists the new options were far more appealing even if they fell way short of the Smalltalk-80 environment's benefits.