

Ask HN: Is the OS stack a factor when developing deployable apps? - BSousa

For my next project I plan to develop a web service that is aimed soley at the enterprise.<p>While I'll also offer a SaaS option, I think most companies will prefer to install on their own servers. I was wondering for this scenario, if I should stick with .net/Java or installing configuring PHP/Ruby/Python is an OK requirement.<p>I'm well familiar with ASP.net and RoR but was leaning on RoR for this project (as my day job is .net and wanted a change) but I have that nagging voice in the back of my head saying most companies won't bother installing/configuring RoR to use my product. Any experiences?
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ScottWhigham
Hmmm - very scant on the details but overall I'd say yes, it's a factor. Like
you said, if you deploy on RoR and I don't have it, I'm not likely to buy/use
you because it means adding some "system" that I don't know into the mix.

That being said, here's an example of a company who has taken such a problem
(Apache on Windows) and completely hidden it from the end user (or at least
made it not a big deal): <http://www.visualsvn.com/server/>

Any .NET developer can now share SVN repositories without the fuss of
installing and configuring Apache.

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Tichy
Bigger companies often have a policy allowing only certain languages. For
example I think Google only allows C/C++, Java Python and Javascript (source:
<http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/06/rhino-on-rails.html> )

