Before rails, a lot of people were either using PHP or Java with JSPs/Servlets. If you were 'cool' you used Spring/Hibernate with a mountain of XML configuratio

Before rails, a lot of people were either using PHP or Java with JSPs/Servlets. If you were 'cool' you used Spring/Hibernate with a mountain of XML configurations. Ruby/Rails was a breath of fresh air. Translate: Not a PITA.