"Lothar Scholz" <llothar / mailandnews.de> wrote
> Only some big
> companies are still alive but only because they have some very big
> customers which you can't reach with a) ruby b) a small startup c)
> without reputation.
>
We certainly could reach the largest customers:

a) The point is to make ruby acceptable for them (convincing them it has
critical mass)

b)  It can be a small startup, as long as the reputation is there among its
players.

c)  Some of the players must have had business success bringing a product to
the large corporations before so they can say, "Well here's player X who
solved problems for big companies before, let's take them seriously."  It
all comes down to their believing that their problems will be solved for a
few years by this organization.  Talent, ironically, is not always the
biggest factor in determining that - reputation certainly is.  It's not like
we don't have any people here with a reputation.

There may be a niche for commercial ruby-oriented ventures in the
prototyping niche.  The ROI should be simple to illustrate to large
companies.  Also, this would get ruby into their labs, where insiders could
become proponents for allowing it into production environments.

Wayne