not at all!  this is exactly why I continue to subscribe and read the PLUG list after all these years.
I have more of a sysadmin and networking background; coding is definitely outside my professional
skill set but I learn a tremendous amount through the list and get exposed constantly to new (to me)
things that I can explore on my own.

I understand what you are saying and I am indeed going to read up on Flex.  I am not a
professional programmer but it helps me in my job to have as wide a view as possible of
the issues they face and the tools they have available to move the effort forward.
Thanks!

Ed

Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:18:30 -0600
Subject: Re: RE: looking for recommendations for web development companies
From: kfries6@gmail.com
To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us

Ok, so I wasn't far off at all.  Take a look at Rails as a middleware, its often overlooked in this role.
Flex is sotra flash on steroids. But if you have an aversion to that, ajax, json, etc can be substituted.
What I was suggesting was not to write your app in Ruby, it was to use rails to handle the communications with your end clients.  You could even have multiple clients, using different technologies, and even different communication protocols by using Rails as a muddleware.

Just trying ti give you ideas to resolve your development design.
Kevin Fries