From: ptkwt@...1.aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2002-12-18T07:47:36+09:00
Subject: Re: Confessions of a Ruby programmer

In article <F102Dwi9XDji3TKciSU00021065@hotmail.com>,
Shannon Fang <xrfang@hotmail.com> wrote:
>It is surely inspiring to hear this. I am now actively "alluring" friends to 
>enter the Ruby world. Although my "corporate endeavor" seems (temporarily) 
>blocked.
>
>I feel that it make talk long way for Ruby to gain a decent "share" of the 
>programming lanugage market. One question my colleague asked me is: how many 
>companies are using Ruby? 

I don't know how many companies are using Ruby, but as I mentioned in a 
recent post, you can get some idea of which companies are using Ruby by 
looking at the email addresses of folks who post.
Some of the more recognizable ones:
Intel, Agilent, NOAA, NASA

(I'm sure more could be added)

>He said that since Python is 10 years old, and 
>Microsoft is using Python, so it is good... It is our task to grow this ruby 
>community.

Where is Microsoft using Python?  Perhaps you're thinking of ActiveState.
It could be that some folks are playing with Python at M$.  Recently Matz 
met with someone from Microsoft so it could be that someone at Microsoft 
is playing with Ruby too.

>
>Being a "pragmatic programmer" I regret I can't contribute more to Ruby, as 
>you guru hackers do. However, all my friends seems really impressed by my 
>efficiency when programming in ruby. I think that's what Ruby need -- more 
>and more people using ruby and love ruby.

Word of mouth testamony works pretty well.

Phil
-- 
"Or perhaps the truth is less interesting than the facts?" 
Amy Weiss (accusing theregister.co.uk of engaging in 'tabloid journalism')
Senior VP, Communications
Recording Industry Association of America