Jesse has some crazy idea about object memory? I say great. Fulmer wants to bring Cobalt to the Trunk? I say that's what we're all about. VPRI has some craziness called Ometa? Bring it on.
Hmm...I don't see why Randal's "crazy idea" about immutability couldn't be equally meritorious toward "what we're all about".
Databases are for peasants.
Wow, someone's Wheaties went soggy. :-) Typing as an apparent peasant, when one finds the need to soil one's leggings by interacting with a database, Randal's suggestion would nicely reduce code noise with some Smalltalk innovation flair thrown in.
We are unique and occupy a unique position. Let's embrace that. Stop trying to turn us into shadows of Gemstone, Cimcom, or other merchants of tedium. If Kent Beck isn't happy with Squeak, I don't see it as our job to cater.
I did not interpret Randal's suggestion as Gemstone/Cincom-envy. He merely offered a usage case with implementation references. Given the "coolness" quotient you seem to seek I'd say there's plenty to consider with respect to semantic cleanliness for concurrence situations (in addition to resource efficiencies that become possible compared to a "only mutables need apply" world).
There is nothing else on earth like us and what we do. Squeak is a never ending game of capture the flag.
I'll admit it, I am mostly a lurker so my cred points are very thin. However, I am a Smalltalk enthusiast and found the reaction to Randal's suggestion overly dismissive.