From: Rick DeNatale Date: 2007-10-23T19:47:13+09:00 Subject: Re: IronRuby...will it be like J++? On 10/23/07, Robert Dober wrote: > On 10/23/07, Michael T. Richter wrote: > I believe that M$ intentions are always to benefit M$ (but the same holds > for Sun, IBM and sorry for those I forgot). Yes > That even holds for myself :(. All of us I'd say, at least those with any intelligence. > That simply means to watch out, but that should not lead us to deny the > facts that open source can (temporarily) benefit > from being aligned with the strategy of such economic monsters. > Strange however that many - and count me in by all means - feel more > threatened by Billy's company than by others! > Is (was) M$ more aggressive? Probably. Do the others a better job in > concealing that they might do exactly the same under the same circumstances? > Surely. > Well I am talking too much, what I really want to say is that although it > might be rightful to fear, we should respect the great work of the people, > like Charles, Ola, John and all the others and not mix that up with > corporate politics. > Right now I honestly believe that there is no indication at all that the > mean for anything else than to make Ruby better and richer, hopefully I and > them are not wrong... Looking back after a 30+ year career with IBM, much of which included interactions with both technical and corporate folks from MS, Sun, and others. I know full well that well-meaning technical folks don't have full control over corporate strategies and tactics. As a result, I've got a healthy skepticism over what the corporate types at MS, Sun, and yes IBM are up to. All three are struggling with the growing trend of customers looking to the open source community for development languages and tools instead of proprietary 'solutions.' Sometimes it's like watching one of those TV poker games, although you don't usually have the camera that shows the hands. -- Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/