I don't feel qualified to really comment here considering how few languages I've really immersed myself into, so I'll add this snippet from Paul Graham's "Great Hackers" ( <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html</a> ) essay as commentary, which immediately came to mind when reading bullet #2:<p>"A couple years ago a venture capitalist friend told me about a new startup he was involved with. It sounded promising. But the next time I talked to him, he said they'd decided to build their software on Windows NT, and had just hired a very experienced NT developer to be their chief technical officer. When I heard this, I thought, these guys are doomed. One, the CTO couldn't be a first rate hacker, because to become an eminent NT developer he would have had to use NT voluntarily, multiple times, and I couldn't imagine a great hacker doing that; and two, even if he was good, he'd have a hard time hiring anyone good to work for him if the project had to be built on NT."