> Surely these people see how Smalltalk can change things?

As a matter of fact, they can't. They have blinders on.

They are heavily reliant on 3 things:

1. The programming model they are most familiar with and that they feel most comfortable using. In other words, habituation.

2. The well-established ecosystems they believe trump all other advantages.

3. Their skepticism of Smalltalk's productivity advantage. They're too afraid of wasting time exploring the option.