From: Kyle Schmitt Date: 2007-11-14T02:49:18+09:00 Subject: Why are so many people confused about "Enterprise" software? Really, why are so many people confused about "Enterprise" software, or what "Enterprise Ruby" would be? Enterprise software is not in any way, faster, more scalable, more reliable, or better written than non enterprise software. People need to get over thinking that that's the way to make it "Enterprise" It boils down to a few things: availability of paid support; availability of _experienced_ contractors; someone else using it first. Paid Support: It's the difference between RHEL and CentOS. If you can get paid support for it, you have someone to turn to at 3AM when all the systems are down, and your best developers and sys admins have been working on too little sleep for too long to fix it. Contractors: Enterprise systems always need (substantially) more people to implement that to run, so experienced, professional contractors need to be available to supplement employees. More than that, they need to be there to teach, coax and nurse the company through the transition to whatever. Someone else using it first: Sad but true, "Enterprise" level customers are by and large cowards. They won't, and in their defense often can't, take the kind of risk that accompanies being the first adopters of a technology into their arena. So, you want to make ruby an "Enterprise" language? * Start a consultancy offering packaged and to order ruby solutions, hefty support contracts, and contractors you can hire out. * Become an established contractor (yes it takes time, no it's not overnight), and start offering or nudging clients into ruby applications. * Write some killer business app in ruby. Maybe a financial/supply chain/delivery resource management system that small to medium companies can actually afford. * Make a startup company that uses ruby exclusively, and be mega successful. Make billions of dollars and advertise that you use ruby. And hire me for a modest (8 figure) salary if I haven't don't have my own mega successful startup at that point ;) Am I doing anything like that for ruby now? Well... probably not enough either, but if you wanna make ruby "Enterprise", think about those things. --Kyle