Does Ruby Have a Chasm to Cross?
summary
Argument: Ruby gains real market traction only by turning technical beauty into repeatable customer value, teams and shipping. History shows 2.5% innovators try anything, early adopters accept an 80% solution, and Smalltalk-era companies of 50–200 people built tow-holds but still fail to cross the chasm. Concrete tools and events: Smalltalk‑80, Visual Works, VisualAge, Java, then Rails and Merb; Rails acts as the killer app builder. Smalltalk's commercial rollout falters, Rails wins early adopters but lacks clear mainstream footholds.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:44Technology adoption theory
- 12:31Smalltalk history
- 42:00Ruby's origins
- 55:19Ruby's chasm
- 1:01:23Crossing the chasm
- 1:16:10Ruby best practices
