<!-- Note of appreciation to Massimo and team --> I have been using web2py for the past few years and I feel it is one the Python world's hidden gems. While most people argue about Django and the like, what matters most when it comes to application development is deployment speed, reliability and low cost of maintenance. If you are in the software development business, you want to put things in your customers hands early (agile development), provide full web functionality (logins, security, https) all of which come inbuilt and the ability to work with legacy systems (Oracle, MySQL) on multiple platforms (Linux, Windows). Web2py does all of this without making you sweat and worry about library incompatibilities and platform specific issues.The range of deployments is amazing - GAE to EC2. For this alone, the team deserves a huge round of applause!
The recent tool CSVstudio is a complete life saver. I recently delivered a project where I had to convert Excel files running into a few hundred columns and thousands of rows into searchable databases. Imagine doing this by hand - forget it! I initially used CloverETL (a leading enterprise ETL solution), but still had to ensure column compatibilities and fix Excel issues which were time consuming. Well, half-way into the project, client changes Excel formats, adds new files to the mix - typical scenario right? Enter CSVstudio. It not only cleans your Excel files, but recognizes column data types and the best part - it generates the Web2py model file for you. I went from Excel file to searchable web database in less than 5 minutes. This is a killer tool for application developers! I'm sure there are a number of volunteers from around the world along with Massimo who contribute to the Web2py project and I would like to say - thank you, keep up the good work and make Web2py the #1 application development platform out there! For those of you who are contemplating using this platform or need assistance deploying this within your networks (academic or commercial), feel free to talk to the mailing list or ping me for corporate specific advise. I have deployed web2py in corporate settings, hospitals and research labs successfully and would be happy to help you. There's lots of good applications like Sahana people are building with Web2py and the recent news that our mailing list traffic has overtaken Django and Ruby is indication that people are moving in the right direction. Let the work talk, not the hype. And that's where web2py is the silent assassin. -Sebastian
