The old axiom concerning the grass being greener on the other side of the fence applies to programming languages and platforms as well to, well, grass. The latest person to realize this has documented their journey from PHP to Ruby on Rails... and back to PHP. There are a lot of good lessons to be had in this article. While the article details a decision regarding PHP and Ruby on Rails, the results could be the same for a variety of different languages. I think the lesson is that the grass isn't always greener, and you should carefully consider any platform changes you make no matter how bad your current platform may appear.

As is to be expected with any article regarding a programming language, the zealots are out defending their cause in the comments section of this article. I think most of their comments defending Ruby on Rails are off-base. It's not that I think there is anything wrong with Ruby on Rails, or that the use of Ruby on Rails caused this failure, I just don't buy there explanations as to why this particlar transition from PHP failed. The guy in question drank the kool-aid, was experienced, and was working with a renowned Ruby on Rails developer. Consider that as you read the comments.