acpigeon

Subtle point, but your assumption (nearly everywhere else in this discussion as well) relies on paying for content before you've consumed it. I haven't heard much discussion on what happens if you remove that assumption.

If you could attach a frictionless transaction to a "Like" or "Kudos", I would be happy to pay $1 a pop or something reasonable for a well researched blog post after I've read it. Maybe not feasible for a wider public, but certainly might have niche acceptance.

It bothers me that the only paid model for content is to pay for the source. I enjoy some pieces the New York Times publishes, but I don't want to pay for the whole pipeline. I would however, be happy to pay something for individual pieces of quality content.

Additionally, much of the content I enjoy reading is produced by people not in it for the money, so there is no way to pay for it even if it did have monetary value to me.

The troubling fact from an investors perspective is that for a bit.ly, the domain is nearly essential. Investing in a company where such a valuable asset is vulnerable to the whims of a dictator or third-world bureaucrat is unwise, to say the least.

Say I take the Rails class. What's the learning curve from there to Sinatra? Better / worse than the other way?

Recent engineering "survivor" would probably be a more accurate description ;-) As I mentioned, I'm much more of a business-minded guy. Don't ask...

Sinatra is also based on Ruby yes? How does it differ specifically from Rails?

Rapid prototyping is exactly what I'm looking for. From what I'm hearing here it sounds like Rails is a great platform for that. Also looking at the MBA at some point ;-)

That's a helpful metaphor. What I'm looking for is a framework that can be used for rapid prototyping, and it sounds like rails fits the bill.

Indeed that's the plan. I guess everything I've heard about Ruby/Rails was about the combo so I thought they went together as a matter of course. Amiright?

Interesting. Wasn't aware of this particular functionality, definitely sounds engaging. Thanks!

Thanks for the resource! And indeed, it is exactly that "boot camp" motivation I would be looking for in deciding to take a class.