> If you don't, your competitor would, and likely put you out of business. I think you're looking farther along the curve than I am. Before businesses conside

> If you don't, your competitor would, and likely put you out of business. I think you're looking farther along the curve than I am. Before businesses considered the possibilities of the Javascript-ified web, they had to be shown the possibilities by non-commercial hackers, who aren't worried about their competitors putting them out of business, but are driven only by the desire to play with cool toys. The browser provided an easy-to-program source of cool toys. If it had been harder to program, then the hobbyists who drive later trends might have looked elsewhere, and we wouldn't have the do-everything-through-rich-Web-interfaces world in which we live today, but would find the default interface … somewhere else; who knows? (That is, I don't think anyone would ever say "I won't use the programmatic web because of Lisp; I'll hold out for Javascript", but I can imagine someone, if Javascript didn't exist, saying "it's too hard to innovate quickly in Lisp; let's find another platform where it's easier.") None of this is a prediction, just a reminder that where we are now isn't inevitably, but the end result of many many small nudges, some of which we recognise and some of which we don't.