DHH's keynote was like listening to David Brent give a motivational speech.

"Some of you will loose your jobs. I know, I know. Gutting. Gutting. On a more positive note, I'm getting a promotion. So every cloud. Oh, you're still think about the bad stuff aren't you?"

You have to laugh about it because he's kind of making himself irrelevant too. We listened to him because of Rails not Hey or Basecamp. They were just application of Rails as a technology.

If he no longer has a vision for Rails' niche, what do we need him for? What's his pitch?

He might as well just be a Danish Barry Gibb impersonator that can't sing but instead drones on and on about politics. :P