MissingMethod

Cedric’s article on why he thinks Rails will never make the mainstream has stirred up a lot of responses. My initial reaction was the same as David’s: would I really want Rails to break into the mainstream?

I don’t think so. This isn’t just some elitist desire to be part of a special club (like listening to bad underground music just because no one else likes it). It’s just that Rails, as an open-source project, is fragile. It’s susceptible to all kinds of dilution and modification at the hands of people who might not care about it as much as the people working on it now.

Even with the Rails ecosystem at its current size, I think there are already conflicts that are tough to resolve. These philosophical debates about how the framework should be built could eventually lead to a split (or branching) in the project. And I think if Rails were to be adopted by the mainstream, it would only hasten those kinds of problems.

The beauty of Rails, I think, is that it’s built by and for people who don’t have to or don’t want to worry about meaningless process requirements or beaurocratic roadblocks. It’s built for people who want to code creatively, unimpeded by all the bullshit that goes along with “enterprise” development.

I, for one, would like to see it stay that way.

Related Links:
Jakob’s take on the discussion - he’s about halfway between the opposing viewpoints.
David’s post from a few months ago, entitled “Ruby On Rails Goes Mainstream” - not sure how this meshes with his response to Cedric’s post.

Last Modified : April 8th, 2006
Filed under : Ruby on Rails
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