Stefan Tilkov's Random Stuff

Ruby and Microsoft

A very interesting piece from Martin Fowler about Ruby and Microsoft:

Perhaps more significant is the story within ThoughtWorks. When .NET appeared there was a lot of interest in the platform. Many people were pleased to see a strong competitor to the Java platform and were keen to get involved on .NET projects. Yet over the last year or so there’s been a big turn away from .NET. This is despite the fact that there is some really interesting things coming out of Redmond. Mike Two is very keen on the windows workflow tools, I’ve been very impressed by Linq and other language developments. But the general view of Microsoft technologies is a loud yawn. This is important because, as Tim O’Reilly believes, the alpha geeks point to what everyone else will be doing in a few years time. And the crucial point is that the attitude to Microsoft isn’t hatred (a common attitude amongst many geeks) but boredom. This is what Paul Graham means when he says that Microsoft is dead because it’s no longer dangerous.

While news of Microsoft’s death seem a little premature to me, very much worth a read.