From: "W. Kent Starr" <elderburn@...>
Date: 2001-12-29T05:54:42+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:29585] Re: New Rubygarden poll

Dave Thomas wrote:
> 
> Sean Middleditch <elanthis@awesomeplay.com> writes:
> 
> > Hrm, I think it could have been phrased better.
> 
> Give me some words....

The relevant question is not current platform usage (however, the
results thus far did surprise me; so much for POLS in POLLS! heh) but
the significance of Windows as a target platform for Ruby.

Of course, at present, that has an obvious answer.

Larger questions involve to what degree compromises must be made in core
development to induce Ruby to 'play more nicely' in a Windows
environment and whether such compromises are, in the long term, wise
ones.

An even larger question would be ~if~ all things being equal would
Microsoft maintain its current market dominance. "Being equal" means
that (1) manufacturers of hardware be ~free~ to offer alternative
operating systems (which in practical terms they were not prior to the
US DOJ proposed settlement may still not be 'effectively' free and (2)
that they be ~required~ to disclose to the purchaser the relative and
relevant costs, pros and cons of operating system alternatives. 

I realize that at first glance some of the above comments appear OT. But
in a much larger sense they are relevant to the future of Ruby, and
indeed ~all~ open source computer languages.

Regards,

Kent Starr
elderburn@mindspring.com