Zed's Rails Ghetto Rant

I'm not exactly breaking news here, but I've been out of town so you'll have to give me a break. :)

Zed Shaw, of Mongrel fame (RoR web server) recently posted a scathing rant attacking the Rails community in general as well as specific members. The post is actually pretty (REALLY) long, and at the end I'm not sure reading it all was a good investment of my time.

But, I did read it all, so the least I can do is give a quick analysis for you so you can decided whether to dig deeper or take a pass!

Regardless of the accuracy of all of Zed's statements, one thing that is clear to me is the difference between the general perception people have of projects, people, etc. and the actual reality. I think we see this all the time in our own worlds, but we forget that people who achieve notoriety are really no different.

Secondly, I came to realize how little much of this stuff matters. At the end of the day, most people/companies who choose to use Rails (or any framework/technology) will never really get involved deeply enough to care if the (in)famous folks are saints or sinners. They'll just download the tools, browse the docs, and crank out useful code.

The one aspect of his rant, and more importantly Rikard's response, was about how companies (specifically Thoughtworks) were exploiting Rails and what type of communities exist in companies like Thoughtworks. I have several friends who are ex-Thoughtworkers and I'm curious to ask them about their impressions of Zed and Rikard's assessments. I would encourage people to check out these posts and just search for these sections for a quick summary of what I thought were the interesting parts.

Whether this whole tussle is actually worth the time to read or simply a Valleywag'esque distraction is still an open question. Either way, it is too late for me to get the time back.