Pensieri di un lunatico minore

Is anything ready for the enterprise?

As I was reading Jay Fields’ post about using Rails in an enterprise environment, I am struck most especially by this little tidbit:

Did Rails handle this type of environment out of the box? No. However, Ruby + Rails made it easy to extend Rails where it was necessary. Since I was able to easily extend the framework to my needs, I’m now completely comfortable stating that Rails is “Enterprise Ready”. In fact, out of the box Rails solves about 80% of the problems I have, which is better than most “Enterprise” software I’m usually working with.

This mirrors my experience with supposedly “serious” “enterprise” software. They have a billion knobs on them, and none of them actually do anything you need them to do. Instead, they contribute massive complexity that actually prohibits you from making the changes that are needed to adequately accomplish the task at hand. It also increases, exponentially, the testing requirements to even have some modicum of confidence that the platform does what it should.

I would rather take an easily modifiable, open platform that I can make do what I need in a specific environment. Everyone else can play with the “serious” software, and keep adding on gee-gaws until it collapses in on itself and forms the black hole of productivity, where no good idea can escape.