“Academic discussions won’t get you a million new users. You need faith-based arguments. People have to watch you having fun, and envy you.”
Steve Yegge points out that culture matters, and may make Ruby the Next Big Thing.
When asked why we are using Java at work, I said “because we have to do things the hard way” – it’s the way that’s guaranteed to work, rock-solid, interoperable, stable, enough skilled engineers out there in the market place, enough googleable solutions for our everyday problems, will be actively maintained for years to come, Not My Fault if it does not run, etc.
If Ruby ever gets to that point, great. But until that day, everyone in middle management does their best to ignore the fun factor, and engineers will keep dreaming (of using Ruby, of owning an Apple Mac, of a world without deadlines, legacy and momentum).
The hard way means: having to wait until the Next Big Thing is the Current Big Thing.