perl used in large developments - I need help

[David Dick]

I realise that this is OT slightly, but (depending on the client) you 
could come at from the other pov that says "you're entering into a 
legally binding contract with us for us to provide you with service x.  
This implies we are the experts at providing service x.  why are you 
trying to dictate the environment we work in?"  It can be a worthwhile 
question to ask.  Justifying the decision can sometimes seem like you 
aren't sure what you're doing.  just my two cents. :)
good luck with it!!!

Simon Taylor wrote:

>Hello fellow perl mongers,
>
>Our company has had a very interesting challenge given to us today.
>
>We have been involved in tendering for a project to rewrite a large US ERP
>application (currently written in FORTRAN and using c-isam data files).
>
>We lost the tender in January to a company that has since recommended java (or 
>c#) as the language of choice, and has also recommended rewriting the 
>application from scratch. 
>
>Our competing tender was based naturally, on perl, and on rewriting the 
>application incrementally.
>
>The winning tenderer's solution has now been dismissed as too expensive and we 
>are being asked to show why our solution should now be chosen. There are no 
>others tenderers involved. (If we win the project, we would do only a portion 
>of the coding ourselves, other firms would be involved, and would be using 
>perl because our design mandates it).
>
>All the application-specific arguments aside, it is coming down to:
>
>   * Why on earth are you recommending perl?  
>   * Nobody knows perl, 
>   * Everybody develops large scale apps in java, etc, etc.
>   * perl's too slow isn't it?
>
>and incredibly, 
>
>   * who supports perl
>
>What I desperately need now is pointers to good quality descriptions of larger 
>applications developed in perl.
>
>I have good examples in Fastmail.fm and Radiator, but I'm also keen to be able 
>to table other applications, the larger the better. We know that lots of
>organisations around the world "use perl" in powerful ways, but the same sites 
>"use electricity" as well, and just as with electricity, their uses of perl 
>are transparent to the outside world, and hard to identify.
>
>This is an 800,000 line application used by Fortune 500 companies in the US, 
>it would be quite a win for the perl development community.  
>
>Regards,
>
>Simon Taylor
>  
>