Couldn't you do this on Squeak?
but we are doing that starting with squeak 3.9 :)
How much Pharo will differ from Squeak?
We do not know but it will.
Do you intend to rebase with a new VM or do you intend to just improve Smalltalk code?
For the moment we do not have the expertise to change the VM and we will reuse the one of Squeak. There will be also a MIT VM with a JIT so :) And also Squeak VM running on ipod :)
What about license issues? I've seen Pharo is MIT.
Yes all the code of pharo will be MIT. We will only include MIT code and all the commiters have to sign the agreement.
I've seen many developers and a busy mailing list,
I expect more improvements to come when the people interested by software development will join. For the moment we are in warm up mode.
what will be the future of Squeak?
I do not know. FunSqueak ;D
Well what I will have in mind depends on what you reply to the above questions :P
Thanks for your reply.