a bit obvious...when you have a huge install base and lots of fans you can so things a startup cant. how the company got there is far more important then the a

a bit obvious...when you have a huge install base and lots of fans you can so things a startup cant. how the company got there is far more important then the advantages they have now, thats what startups can take from 37Signals and other prominent software companies. the RoR advantage is not really copyable, and provided them with a huge advantage in terms of fans and press. But it did not win them most of their customers and going beyond a niche of small web dev shops its meaningless. My guess is most of their customers dont know what RoR is. on a side note it would be nice to do a 37signals moratorium for a month or so, seems like all I see lately on HN lately.