Is Ruby and Rails available as first class citizen on Windows OS? Is there any reason why I should not use Ruby or Ruby on Rails on a Windows OS?
We have having few issues with Ruby on windows so I am just trying to understand if there are large number of production applications on Windows?
If Windows is all you have, it will do OK. It's just that for development (of anything other than Windows-specific software), or for server usage (of anything other than MS technology stacks or stuff specifically to support Windows), Windows is usually a rather poor choice. (Not to knock it completely; it's a perfectly fine OS for non-technical end-users, it runs on much cheaper hardware than Macs, and Visual Studio is fairly good.) Thus, most Ruby geeks are already running Macs and/or Linux -- often developing on Mac lappies and then deploying to a Linux server.
-Dave
Is Ruby and Rails available as first class citizen on Windows OS? Is there any reason why I should not use Ruby or Ruby on Rails on a Windows OS?
There are several, good reasons as to why you should not use RoRails on Windows. I do not have time to enumerate all of them, except to say that RoRails runs much, much better on Linux or Mac OS than on Windows. As for myself, I am still running RoRails on my Windows laptop, but shall revert to running RoRails on Ubuntu as soon as I have updated my Ubuntu laptop.
Just avoid using RoR on Windows if you can.
Sincerely, Paul Bain
I am a systems admin and can concur with everything Dave said below. I have been using RoR for several years and various jobs and can say if you put it windows for production traffic you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Nes++
I think many would say the Windows is not the best choice for development or production. I use Ubuntu.
Colin
Is there any reason why I should not use Ruby or Ruby on Rails on a
Windows OS?
Because most Rails developers use something other than Windows, so if you start by trying to use Win, you're already fighting against the flow, and there's less people likely to be able to help you.
We have having few issues with Ruby on windows so I am just trying to understand if there are large number of production applications on Windows?
The only production sites I've come across using Windows have used development tools like InstantRails or RubyStack as their platform - a very bad choice. They've normally done this because they didn't have the inclination to invest in the knowledge (it's really a fairly simple learning curve, or a cheap resource to out-source...) of how to get it running on *nix, and as such have left their sites running very vulnerably.
There are several, good reasons as to why you should not use RoRails on Windows. I do not have time to enumerate all of them, except to say that RoRails runs much, much better on Linux or Mac OS than on Windows. As for myself, I am still running RoRails on my Windows laptop, but shall revert to running RoRails on Ubuntu as soon as I have updated my Ubuntu laptop. Just avoid using RoR on Windows if you can.
Is one of those reasons the fact that when you type rails s, it goes very very slow? or is it just me?
It is not useful I think to use windows as a production server, I don’t know if any uses windows only for development
Javier
Since this question seems to get asked every now and then, I thought I'd just chime in...
I've been developing happily on Windows for the last 3 years. Every now and then there might be a small issue, but otherwise it hasn't been as painful as many would have you believe. I do have an Ubuntu virtual machine that I play around on as well, but you can totally get by using Windows. The only limitation is that there is a lack of something like RVM for Windows (unless I've missed something). So if you're dealing with rails apps that require you chopping and changing between versions of Ruby, you'll want to look at that Ubuntu virtual machine.
When it comes to production, it makes no sense to use Windows. You'd really have to be into that whole self-whipping thing. I've been using Heroku exclusively for the last year, and could not be happier. It really is all that.
If you DO NEED to use Windows for production, consider switching to ASP.NET MVC... your life will almost certainly be easier.
Cheers 
James
Since this question seems to get asked every now and then, I thought I'd just chime in...
I've been developing happily on Windows for the last 3 years. Every now and then there might be a small issue, but otherwise it hasn't been as painful as many would have you believe. I do have an Ubuntu virtual machine that I play around on as well, but you can totally get by using Windows. The only limitation is that there is a lack of something like RVM for Windows (unless I've missed something). So if you're dealing with rails apps that require you chopping and changing between versions of Ruby, you'll want to look at that Ubuntu virtual machine.
You've missed pik
(but I develop on Mac OSX so I've never used it)
-Rob
Rob Biedenharn Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com http://AgileConsultingLLC.com/ rab@GaslightSoftware.com http://GaslightSoftware.com/
Hah! Well look at that... thanks Rob!
I do embedded software development for many systems and I am very familiar with Windows cross compilers, etc. I like having all the Windows tools at my beck and call. When I can, I use 'E' as my default editor.
But developing RoR for native Windows, not!!
I do, however, use Windows tools to manage the Linux development. I use Samba to expose my Mint development box's file system on my Windows desktop and I use a VPN to pull the Mint desktop into a window on my Windows box.
Best of both worlds: I can keep my Mint box setup simple to mirror my ISP's environment and still use all the Windows tools I am used to.