Big Think Interview With David Heinemeier Hansson:


Some of the questions asked:
What inspired you to create Rails?
Ruby on Rails lowers the technical expertise necessary to create a web application; is expertise becoming less critical?
How simple can things get in terms of programming?
Do you think any company can dominate the Web the way Microsoft dominated computers circa 1992?
What do you make of Apple’s mandate that all apps for iOS devices be written in specific languages?

There’s a transcript of the interview available and this summary (excerpted below) offers links to specific parts of the video.

Hannson also talked about the highly anticipated release of Rails 3, saying they’re “incredibly close” to unveiling it. And he admitted to us that he feels “let down personally” by Apple’s choice to restrict what programming languages can be used for smart phone apps. It was an “insecure move,” which Hansson finds strange because Apple is “winning on their merits.” It’s another case of absolute power corrupting absolutely, just like with Microsoft in the 90s, even though now Microsoft is “irrelevant” to Hansson.

Read the rest of the summary.