ARAX vs AJAX (and the unfortunate perception towards Microsoft)

My company has loooong way to go if the perception towards its practices is to change. The following quote I think summarizes the opinion of many in the tech community 🙁

Indeed, Galbraith said, “As long as Windows/Office dominates Microsoft’s balance sheet, these cross-platform Microsoft plays always feel a bit like the story of the boy who upon encountering a rattlesnake picks it up after it promises not to hurt him, upon which the snake promptly bites. After the boy protests, the snake says: ‘You knew what I was when you picked me up.’ No matter what capabilities Silverlight may have, I think most of us in the community simply wouldn’t dream of embracing architectures dependent on Microsoft’s goodwill to support other OS vendors.” (“Move Over, AJAX, ARAX Is Here”)

I seriously don’t know how to technically challenge that opinion. Obviously we have lots of ground to cover in order to change perceptions. My group is trying its best to demonstrate that we want to work closely with the research, open source, and tech communities. I am a true believer in making people productive no matter what technologies they wish to use. We should give them options and allow them to choose. If they wish to use MacOS X, Linux, Ruby, etc., they should be able to do so and a company like Microsoft should try its best to accommodate their needs. (Disclaimer: That’s my personal view and it does not necessarily reflect my group’s or my company’s opinion even though I’d like to believe that I am not a complete alien :-).

Having Ruby support for Silverlight (or any other dynamic language for that matter) is a good thing since it gives people choice.