"brutal application of free market supply and demand. If having Feature X really would make my web application development significantly easier, somebody would have already written a language or environment that used it."
I see this kind of thinking applied to a multitude of subjects and it never makes any sense. The market isn't some static thing that has already rendered its final judgement - the competitive landscape is constantly changing and (in this particular example) python or ruby programmers extolling the virtues of their language to PHP programmers and convincing them that it is better is a vital component of python/ruby gaining greater market share.
This type of thinking can be used to discourage absolutely anything that is new - "if its so good, why hasn't someone already done it? If it is not already done, it must therefore suck".
In fact, it reminds of a joke about the conservatism of Canadian VCs: The entrepreneur goes to the VC and pitches his business. Being somewhat conservative, the VC asks him "Well, if your idea is great, why hasn't someone from the Valley already invested in it?"
I see this kind of thinking applied to a multitude of subjects and it never makes any sense. The market isn't some static thing that has already rendered its final judgement - the competitive landscape is constantly changing and (in this particular example) python or ruby programmers extolling the virtues of their language to PHP programmers and convincing them that it is better is a vital component of python/ruby gaining greater market share.
This type of thinking can be used to discourage absolutely anything that is new - "if its so good, why hasn't someone already done it? If it is not already done, it must therefore suck".
In fact, it reminds of a joke about the conservatism of Canadian VCs: The entrepreneur goes to the VC and pitches his business. Being somewhat conservative, the VC asks him "Well, if your idea is great, why hasn't someone from the Valley already invested in it?"