First, let me say, we like Rails, and we like the Rails and Ruby communities. We think much sharing and learning with the Smalltalk and Seaside communities is happening that benefit all the involved participants. We invite them to speak at our conferences, and vice versa.
Rails is a pretty neat framework, and can do some very nice, and practical work.
The Seaside framework is, in some ways very different, and in some ways similar.
Seaside inexorably gets compared with Rails, for two reasons; Rails is better known, and they both solve similar types of problems, but in very different ways.
Ultimately, both of these frameworks are tools, and which tool you choose may depend on the job you have in front of you. If you are not familiar with Seaside, I encourage you to check out how to get started using it.
Some parts of Seaside are easy to grasp, but I think the big picture of its power may take more time. But when it clicks: Watch out! :-) I see people noting this theme.
Here are some quotes I really enjoyed:
"there's a scene in Atlas Shrugged where the heroine walks into a diner and finds the greatest composer on the face of the planet working there, flipping burgers. Sometimes Seaside feels like that. How dumb must the tech industry be, overlooking something like this? Is it run by monkeys? What the hell is going on?"
(From this blog)
"Seaside is certainly more advanced than Rails in terms of raw technology, to the point that it's hard to wrap your head around the concepts."
"Don't be surprised if Seaside just looks weird to you at first. Leave it for a little while and then come back. You'll be glad you did. And when it clicks for you, beware. You won't ever look back."
(from here)
