This comment by Theo de Raadt succinctly both captures and dismisses the hype that pervades so much of technology development:
"I don't have a problem with Linux; I just don't use it. Nor do I think it is newer and better or brighter or has less calories; everything we build is turds, we just move them around or shine them or have a different view on which way they should be rolled. I'm just tired of the various evangelical approaches being taken by so many of the Linux users and developers."
Would that more people had such an appropriately measured opinion of software. In a world where one of our leading lights (Yahoo) is run by an ex-studio-exec, internet/software development is starting to look more and more like the glistening, saccharine, fluorescent hard candy of Hollywood. Ruby on Rails is not going to be the difference between whether or not your startup is going to survive. Nor is your ability to mash up with some web service out there. Those trends will definitely sell books and magazines though. And they will improve conference attendance. And the newly anointed leaders of the latest fad will be more than happy to accept your idolatry. In Hollywood, it's all about survivor and reality shows. In the valley, it's all about social networks, trendy languages, and web services.
Meanwhile, the hard/worthwhile stuff is being done in DARPA grand challenges, or by folks like Theo de Raadt, or in any number of spotlight-free back corners.
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