This seems to be a common thread for engineers building webapps.
Its not to say that you're incorrect, but if you're building a webapp that doesn't have huge special needs with regards to performance or some special technology sauce then your technology isn't a competitive advantage.
If you have something that can easily be built in Rails then I have a hard time thinking of a way to get a real competitive advantage working in something else. (On the flip side, Twitter was easily built in Rails and it was very much the wrong tool for them).
In fact working with well known, ubiquitous tools that get the job done well and fast is in itself an advantage. Being able to rev faster and easier then the shop down the block with their super cool custom built web framework that takes people 6 months to learn is an advantage.
Unless your technology IS your product, compete somewhere else.
It's not about doing stuff in platform A that can't be done in platform B. It's about delivering things faster than your competition, something that can't be done if you use the very same tools they use. You can, of course, be wrong and go with the wrong tool, but remember - it's a bet on a technology differential.
The Twitter problems stem not from the web framework they used but in flaws in the design of the data structures under it. When doing something like Twitter, one should never even consider using relational databases for more than a prototype.
Its not to say that you're incorrect, but if you're building a webapp that doesn't have huge special needs with regards to performance or some special technology sauce then your technology isn't a competitive advantage.
If you have something that can easily be built in Rails then I have a hard time thinking of a way to get a real competitive advantage working in something else. (On the flip side, Twitter was easily built in Rails and it was very much the wrong tool for them).
In fact working with well known, ubiquitous tools that get the job done well and fast is in itself an advantage. Being able to rev faster and easier then the shop down the block with their super cool custom built web framework that takes people 6 months to learn is an advantage.
Unless your technology IS your product, compete somewhere else.