Just a head's up to everyone, we are putting on Aloha on Rails this fall 2009. It's a regional Rails conference targeting Web 2.0 Engineers, both backend and frontend, centered around Ruby on Rails but applicable to anyone who is building the next generation of web sites.
Stay tuned for the date and location. And let us know what you'd like to see by following @alohaonrails on twitter.
I'm interested though the Aloha on Rails site would likely be more of a hit if it was built in Rails rather than php. At least that's what the header link is showing, index.php which 404s by the way.
Also, your sponsor link on that site is missing the p in http.
It'll be interesting to see how Rails fares over the next 6 to 12 months.
Too many of the "Smart People" who used to do Rails have recently been blogging about being disenchanted with Rails' flaws; several competing frameworks are kicking Rails' butt in terms of performance; and now with Merb assimilated to become "Rails 3.0", I can't help but think that the transition to Rails 3.0 will be a huge problem begging for a Mass-Exodus to something more properly managed.
I'd love to be proven wrong on that, as Rails Developers have been becoming ridiculously cheap to outsource recently... but chances are all the Power-Developers will have moved on to Sinatra, Camping, Ramaze, or Django by then. :-7
Questioning "authority" is healthy for any ecosystem. What makes Aloha on Rails a strong conference is its upfront acknowledge that Rails is The Way, not that The Way is Rails. We fully intend to have sessions on "What you can learn from Django", for instance.
While I don't get the sense that the "Smart People" are leaving Rails because of flaws (what flaws?) there will always be a new, shiny toy that distracts those that are attracted only to that which no one else uses. That is, every technology has adoption curves, and there will always be those that will migrate away once the technology becomes mainstream.
Which highlights a strength of Rails... it's essentially mainstream now, which is an excellent validation of the framework and its core principles. Rails might go away at some point (but don't be mistaken, it's here for a VERY long time) its principles of "batteries included" and "convention over configuration" have forever changed the landscape of web frameworks (and for the better, I might add)
And while you might be able to pay $15/hr for Rails development, I guarantee that you *get what you pay for*
... its principles of "batteries included" and "convention over configuration" have forever changed the landscape of web frameworks (and for the better, I might add)