> Will be interesting to see what kind of traction BlueDragon gets in the > marketplace. And if it suceeds(sic), what kind of pricing pressure this puts on > MM. And one could argue that if it causes sufficient pricing pressure, MM > might have to respond in a way that reduces their revenue and therefore cash > available for future enhancements to CF.
That sentiment is a double-edged sword. No one owns the syntax of the CFML markup language, anyone can implement ColdFusion in their products (as long as it properly done). True competition is the breeding ground for innovation IMO. If Macromedia is forced to earn its market leading position in the CF market, then it will have to put out a better product. It is ok to charge for the product: it just has to be better. I will keep on using the official MM version as long as they stay innovative and allow for true competition. Choice is a boon in the software world. With choice you can pick one vendor or another, whichever suits your needs best. If one company "owns" the CF world you get to lap up whatever they send your way. Sure, MM responds to community feedback, and it is in their best interests to do what benefits their developers. That still doesn't change the fact that a single entity is responsible for providing CF to the CF development world in a uni-vendor scenario. Granted that is how it has been for a long time with CF, it doesn't have to be and the entrance of other players is fine with me. You end up with a Microsoft when you encourage behaviors like snubbing competitors by intentionally breaking compatibility with competition. Saying that, "because MM must compete it might provide them with less revenue for enhancements", leads down a slippery slope in my opinion. In a market leading position it is *easy* to snub the competition and break their products and create a sufficient rift in the vendor compatibility. When people want the a version of CF compatible with the official (undocumented/authentic) version of CF you have one choice for a vendor again. By keeping CF innovate, fresh, and better MM will stay competitive, in the lead, and keep CF developers happy by providing more and more features to keep the product relevant. If they make a lot less money because some competitor is getting some of their revenue that says to me they are losing their competitive edge. In that situation others are choosing to use a different platform for some reason. The very existence of other platforms people are buying into is better in my opinion than blindly filling the MM coffers for "future enhancements". It is an enhancement to the CF marketplace for consumers to have a choice with what vendor provides them their CF platform. Jeremy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
