Very interesting read. As with all inovations, the greatest
achievements are usually the "side issues". The SoC, component
frameworks, et al, helped improve the way we think about approaching the
development of software. While that has little to do with web
publication, the contributions to the development world are certainly there.
However, I do disagree in one area (see below)
Stefano Mazzocchi wrote:
If you ask me, the current infatuation with Ruby on Rails and friends,
while understanding and to the point (the need to avoid XML pushups,
so true), will fail dramatically short in scale to complex systems.
Just like M$ Word is great to write one/two pages and it fails
miserably to help you with your thesis, something like rails is
awesome for your blog or single-handed ecommerce web site, it would
kill you no less than PHP with a massively complex web site.
I'll be honest that I am currently infatuated with Ruby and Ruby on
Rails in particular, but it is more the way that they approach the
problem of writing a web application. The contribution is the
simplicity and power of convention over configuration. Think about it,
all the reams of paper that the Cocoon configuration files and Sitemaps
take up in XML are largely unnecessary in the Rails world because there
is an intelligent default behavior. Just like Cocoon, the overarching
principle of design behind that framework improves the development
world. We may be reading something like your post about Rails in the
future, nevertheless the underpinning design mindset can influence the
process of writing great software.
Truth be told, I am less convinced about Mozilla as a platform than I am
about either Cocoon or Rails. I don't doubt there is great power that
the browser gives the developer and the user, but at the same time there
is even less to help the poor newbie get emersed into that world. When
I see a coherent Mozilla development environment I may change my mind.
As of right now, there are new possibilities but the barrier of entry is
still too high for the Mozilla as a platform.
