>The enterprise penetration of MX has been weak. MM would blame this on the marketplace, but I'm not sold on this.
Server version upgrade cycles in the enterprise app-server space is around 12 months, according to those I've discussed it with. We're really only about halfway through the cycle at this time. The overall installed CF base is pretty healthy, and growing. Here's a partial list of existing CF sites we use for PR/marketing: http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/proven/ Even considering the upgrade cycle in the enterprise app-server world, the list of CFMX enterprise sites is growing every day. The following are a few of the CFMX sites recently sent to me: http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/ http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?countryid=19&languageid=1 http://www.panasonic.com.au/hometheatre http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/ (some CF, some dynamic Flash content, some just plain HTML) http://www.reservations.broadmoor.com We know a lot of enterprise-level customers have upgraded to CFMX and are in the upgrade cycle - but they don't always report back to us when they go live with CFMX, so feel free to send me sites that you know of too! In addition to this stuff, consider the ways Macromedia is expanding the CF market: *Ground-up rewrite in Java: This expands CF capabilities, as well as makes CF an option to the enterprise-level sites which want the benefits of deploying on a the Java platform and the rapid app dev (RAD) offered by CF. It also means current CF customers have a way to move up to the Java platform without requiring they abandon their existing apps (or their CF developers). Admittedly, this has been a challenging release of CF for some, but once the dust settles, CF and the CF community will enjoy this huge leap forward. *We're working to deliver the information developers need to help them be successful with ColdFusion and our other technology offerings: www.macromedia.com/desdev *We're tappiing into new markets for CF: -With Flash remoting, the HUGE Flash community is getting turned on to CF. While one can purchase Flash remoting for ASP, Flashers taking to CF readily because of it's shorter learning curve and RAD capabilities. -Dreamweaver users: OK, before you pile on me about this one, I'm not trying to debate the CFStudio/HS+ vs. Dreamweaver issue for CFers. Dreamweaver is ~80% of the HTML editor market, and these folks are moving into the dynamic application/web app development space in droves. Dreamweaver MX makes their entry into the CF arena a snap with its built in server behaviors that cover the most basic stuff, and CF's shorter learning curve and tagged based syntax makes CF a very attractive for these new application developers. *We've delivered innovative products that are more integrated and work more smoothly with each other than ever before, offering "one-stop" shopping for industry leading technologies. This also means that we can deliver well integrated technologies, and better information for those who are integrating these various technologies. But we've also worked to remain somewhat agnostic with many of these innovations; many (most) of these innovations integrate with 3rd party products/platforms. Individually, one may not be positioned to take advantage of everything we offer surrounding CF, but we see businesses moving into these areas as they begin to plan and implement new projects, and bring additional technologies & skills into their shops. It's been said Macromedia should concentrate on CF improvements and fixes and forget everything else, but our efforts across the board are not mutually exclusive. We've already released one CFMX updater, and another is fortcoming. Macromedia is fully behind ColdFusion and ColdFusion developers. Yes, there is definately room for improvement, as is evidenced by some of the more lively discussion on this list recently. But we do listen to and incorporate to the community's feedback, while we continue to innovate. Unfortunately, sometimes we can't talk about everything happening, even in the face of (emerging) competition. But that shouldn't be misread as an indication that nothing is happening behind the scenes. I personally think the economy has stifled some of the payoff from Macromedia's efforts, it's stifled just about everything involving economics! But eventually you will start to see these efforts start to pay off for ColdFusion and CF developers. Nay-sayers can say spout gloom and doom if they will, but CF is on the way up. We're just gettin' started! Vernon Viehe ColdFusion Community Manager Developer Relations Macromedia, Inc. Online diary: http://vvmx.blogspot.com/ -------------------- Macromedia DevCon 2002, October 27-30, Orlando, Florida Architecting a New Internet Experience Register today at www.macromedia.com/go/devcon2002 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/cf_talk FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
