Number of RubyGems about to eclipse number of Perl modules.

Here.

Boils down to a measure of developer activity, not all of which is born equal of course. Still though, it stands as a metric, with Ruby (and Python) on the rise and Perl slowly wandering toward some manner of retirement.

It doesn't surprise me too much. Of all the languages I've ever used, Ruby is the most beautiful. The problem, for me anyway, lies in a Ruby community that's openly and bitterly hostile towards Windows-based developers. They don't even like Linux very much...and everybody likes Linux. Sometimes I wonder if they like themselves very much.