Unfortunately try illustrates the exact problem with open classes so many non-Rubyists are afraid of: collisions.

try was originally defined as:

  class Object
    def try(method)
      send method if respond_to? method
    end
  end
  

In Rails it is defined as:

  class Object
    alias_method :try, :__send__
  end

  class NilClass 
    def try(*args)
      nil
    end
  end

The following code will exhibit different behavior depending on which version of try you're using:

  [].try :upcase

For example:

  # original try
  >> [].try :upcase
  => nil  

  # rails try
  >> [].try :upcase
  NoMethodError: undefined method `upcase' for []:Array

If Rails uses try internally, and a Rails plugin you've loaded depends on the original version of try, what now? They both behave differently and, presumably, code using them depends on their specific behavior.

Also don't forget the dozen or so other versions of try people have added to their own plugins and apps...