Allen Holub's latest Java Watch column for SD Times says that Ruby is "certainly not" the next big thing in programming languages. He says "scripting systems (I'm reluctant to call them languages) like PHP and Ruby, ... are too Wild West to be trustworthy."
My Windows and .NET Watch column for the next issue (September 1), is titled "Ruby Read" and says that, to the contrary, Ruby seems to be poised to cross the chasm into the mainstream. Meanwhile, Andrew Binstock tells me his Integration Watch column for the September 1st issue is also about Ruby! (I believe Andrew is bearish on Ruby.)
On the internal reflector, I've suggested that the three of us settle this in some form of Thunderdome: three columnists enter, one columnist leaves. Short of that, we're hoping to try to do some kind of roundtable on the subject.
(Incidentally, aside from his slaps at C# and Ruby, I agree with Allen's column, which basically proposes that domain-specific languages may increase in importance. And, though I haven't read his column yet, Andrew's analyses is always solid, too.)
(Also incidentally, my column in the current issue is a comparison of Safari and Books24x7)