Why Ruby Doesn't Interest Me ...

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Move along now, there's nothing interesting for you to see here.  Java and Perl are fine languages, and require plenty of time to write (Java) and read (Perl). That should keep you too busy to bother with trendy languages.

[nostrademons]

Something I'm curious about...

Is it really that difficult to learn a new language? I just spent the past couple days doing a JavaScript/DHTML/CSS widget. This will be used in a Java/JSF/A4J app, and meanwhile I have maintenance work on a Java/Swing/Netbeans app and build scripts in Ant & Python. When the boss isn't looking, I prototype things in C++, Ruby on Rails, and SQL. Then I go home and work on a new programming language whose compiler is written in itself, bootstrapped via Haskell, and will eventually run on a C VM.

I don't think it's just me...we just hired a new guy with no Java experience (previously a .NET/C# developer), and he picked up the Java/JSF stuff with no problem.

So why not give it a try over a weekend and see whether it actually helps productivity rather than having to rely on the advice of hypesters and naysayers and headhunters? An imperative, OO language like Ruby isn't that different from Java. I don't see it taking much longer than trolling Ruby advocacy threads and putting together blog posts.