From: "David A. Black" Date: 2007-11-14T23:54:57+09:00 Subject: Re: Why are so many people confused about "Enterprise" software? Hi -- On Wed, 14 Nov 2007, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote: > Alexey Verkhovsky wrote: >> On Nov 13, 2007 10:49 AM, Kyle Schmitt wrote: >>> It boils down to a few things: availability of paid support; >>> availability of _experienced_ contractors; someone else using it >>> first. >> >> In my books, the defining feature of the Big Corporate IT (aka >> Enterprise) is "a zoo of technologies spanning the last 15-30 years of >> the history of computing, that need special care, feeding and an >> ability to talk to each other". >> >> Otherwise, your post gave me a few chuckles because you just about >> gave a bullet point list of everything ThoughtWorks has done / is >> doing to help Ruby cross the chasm. Save for the "killer business app" >> thing... :) >> > > Actually, as I almost posted in another thread, I think Ruby has two strong > niches. One is Rails, of course. But the other is the whole milieu of > continuous integration, test-driven and behavior-driven development, and > "pragmatic/agile" processes. I personally think *that* is a killer business > app. After all, given all of that infrastructure, there's no reason you can't > use it to develop non-Ruby software, hardware, airliners, motor vehicles or > the tax code for a medium-sized nation, is there? ;) Before Rails, discussions about what Ruby's sweetest spot might be often involved testing and development tools. Rarely did anyone mention Web stuff at all; I think we all more or less figured that had been taken already. (Not that there weren't Web libraries and frameworks in Ruby before Rails, but I never heard anyone suggest that the first Ruby "killer app" would be a Web framework.) I think that Ruby probably has lots of sweet spots and niches, most of which I'm too unimaginative to think of... and I agree that testing and development process is definitely one (or several) of them. I'll add, to respond to the OP's question in the subject: I'm not confused about "enterprise" software. The only thing that confuses me is how and why the word "enterprise" came to be a euphemism for "money-making corporation", when all it really means is "undertaking". But that ship has sailed (though the word in its current incarnation is not in my active vocabulary). David -- Upcoming training by David A. Black/Ruby Power and Light, LLC: * Advancing With Rails, Berlin, Germany, November 19-22 * Intro to Rails, London, UK, December 3-6 (by Skills Matter) See http://www.rubypal.com for details!