I can only speak on behalf of newcomers as I am a newcomer myself, that I dont care if Pharo is smalltalk, a dialect, a byproduct , a hybrid, alien technology. What I care is that is well supported (bug wise), friendly community (forums), actively developed (updates/ bug fixes), stable enough, a breath of fresh air (who wants to use the same stuff) and sufficiently documented. See what I did there I did not even mention the language nor the environment.�
I am happy that Pharo is all these things, the fact that is smalltalk or a dialect of it, is just a happy accident ;)�