MCL now under Digitool

[hsayed@digitool.com (Hazem Sayed)]

Dear MCL users

It brings me great pleasure to announce, on the behalf of Digitool Inc.,
plans for the continued development and support of Macintosh Common Lisp
including its porting to the Power Macintosh. Digitool has taken over MCL
from Apple Computer and we are committed to the long term success of Lisp
in general and Lisp on the Macintosh in particular.  Our plans and ongoing
cooperation with Apple will assure not only the same level of product
quality, but also a greater market presence for MCL.

Digitool would like to take this opportunity to thank the eleven corporate
sponsors, whose financial backing secured this agreement and assures the
completion of the port, and of whom we are able to mention Apple Computer,
Inc., Flavors Technology, Inc., KyTek, Inc., Lissys Ltd., and the
University of Basel.  We would also like to thank the community of MCL
users whose belief in MCL played no small part in realizing this agreement.

As Lisp devotees you are well aware of how under-appreciated Lisp is in
certain circles.  Well, we are dead set on changing that, and with your
help we will prove that the GOOD GUYS CAN WIN.

Digitool is a new startup formed by principals of Paradigm Software
Incorporated and former employees of Apple's MCL development team,
including and most notably, Gary Byers, the main author of MCL's kernel and
compiler.

Our goals are:

1) to port MCL to the Power PC platform.

2) to assure the long term viability and success of MCL as both a
prototyping and delivery platform.

3) to keep MCL current with both developments in the Macintosh platform and
the Lisp world, while maintaining the same level of product quality.

4) to provide the high quality of technical support MCL has been known for.

5) to pursue opportunities for MCL on new platforms and with new VARs and
development partners.

6) to aggressively market MCL to the developer and academic communities.

In the same spirit that developed the Common Lisp standard, we will be very
open with our plans for MCL.  In the days and weeks to come we will outline
our development, marketing and selling plans.  We will set public goals for
MCL and will actively encourage the MCL community in helping us achieve
them.

We invite you to be equally open with your thoughts, suggestions and
participation in MCL's future.  Together, MCL can be a big win for
everyone.

Again, thank you for your tenacious support of MCL and stay tuned for more
news from Digitool.


Sincerely,


Hazem Sayed
President

Digitool, Inc.
______________________________________________________________________________
                          675 Massachusetts Avenue   Cambridge, MA 02139   USA
                           Internet: hsayed@digitool.com   AppleLink: digitool
                                         Tel: 617 441-5000   Fax: 617 576-7680