The explosion of interest in Ruby on Rails has catapulted Ruby to prominence among dynamic programming languages. Ruby's elegance along with Rail's emphasis on Agile practices is providing many adopters with several-times higher productivity than traditional Java and .NET web-development platforms, creating enterprise-worthy systems in many domains.

ThoughtWorks employs some of the world's leading Ruby developers and contributors to the Rails project. Although Ruby on Rails is relatively new on the scene, it is based on technologies and approaches that ThoughtWorks has used effectively with clients for many years. Our deep experience with custom software development gives us an accurate picture of when and where Ruby is a good fit and when it is not.

Our ongoing project work with Ruby on Rails proves that Ruby excels in the following applications:

• Web 2.0 applications that make use of REST and/or AJAX designs
• Small to medium web-based applications with aggressive time-to-market goals
• Low-cost internal prototypes and pilot applications
• Highly-targeted internal applications and utility programs
• So-called "soft layer" APIs on hardened transactional systems
• Build systems for complex enterprise systems.

Ruby's productivity can also result in early hi-fi prototypes that quickly allows for the exploration of new ideas. To learn more about our Ruby capabilities, visit our Open Source page or send us an e-mail.

ThoughtWorks provides organizations with the capabilities, practices, and services that are essential to success on complex Java projects. ThoughtWorks has created some of the largest Java applications and systems in the world, including those deployed for commercial use by global leaders.

The business and technical maturity of Java are clear. For many organizations, what's far less certain is how to overcome the challenges they face on complex Java projects. These challenges typically include:

• Aligning the enterprise's Java skills with its technical needs
• Building and leveraging Service Oriented Architectures
• Developing systems on J2EE platforms on application servers such as WebLogic, WebSphere and JBoss
• Leveraging testing processes that build quality and reliability
• Sharing proven best practices for Java development across the organization
• Leveraging appropriate Open Source technologies and frameworks that can significantly accelerate development and testing
• Rapidly delivering a satisfactory Return On Investment (ROI) to business and technical leaders.

We have been at the forefront of innovation on the Java platform, and have pioneered the use of technologies such as Inversion of Control and Domain Specific Languages. We have made significant contributions to the Java Open Source community via projects such as CruiseControl, JMock, and XStream, to name a few. ThoughtWorks have a history of successfully delivering on Java projects of all sizes -- we particularly excel at building large, complex, enterprise applications.

Microsoft .NET has emerged as an indispensable technology platform -- in part because of the potential for .NET-enabled enterprises to realize unprecedented speed and agility. For organizations looking to leverage the power of .NET, ThoughtWorks offers a combination of strengths we believe are unrivaled in the industry: extensive experience helping global leaders successfully migrate to .NET, and recognized leadership in the application of Agile development methods.

ThoughtWorks is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and our people provide thought leadership to key Microsoft initiatives such as the Patterns and Practices effort, for which ThoughtWorkers co-authored the Microsoft-published book "Enterprise Solution Patterns Using Microsoft .NET".

We have adapted our Agile development methods and tools to leverage key features of .NET. Our methods bring clients complete confidence of a successful adoption of Microsoft's key technology platform.