> -----Original Message----- > From: samcfug [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 2:36 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: Re: msft taking over macromedia > > > First, I took it as a tongue-in-cheek comment telling us of > the added support in DreamweaverMX. Only he can conform/deny this.
Sure. Both interpetations seem reasonable. > Second, the word "merger" did not appear in his post, only in > the replies. Well, the subject line "MSFT taking over Macromedia" does kind of imply a merger don't you think? > Third. CFML as a language is open-source, so how could MM > become litigious over others use or support if CFML? Actually "open source" doesn't really fit here - ColdFusion is closed source - but CFML is a "public" specification. But there's no MM documentation that I could find that specifically says so. But then again Java was also "open source" - and Sun got VERY litigious over that. > Fourth: swf format is not proprietary either. There are > multiple tool publishers that can create swf files that can > be viewed by FlashPlayer. I thought I said that. ;^) I do know this (I actually Corel RAVE for most of my stuff). MM could, probably, get litigious if they wanted to... At the very least they could take a road often traveled and break playback of all non-Flash authored content. In the end they do neither and allow the format to grow. A good thing all around. > Flash player is, however proprietary, and MM would jump all > over anyone who tried to hijack that. On the other hand, > thanks to FP wide distribution, there would be no need to. > > Macromedia does not compete with Microsoft, instead it > supports their platform, and this is a good thing, too. I agree completely. If anything I said made it seem that I didn't then I misspoke. However MM does, in fact, compete with MS. It's not a serious competetor in many senses or markets but it definitely does present competition in a select few areas. > As for litigation, especially that with SUN as the plaintiff, > the final long term outcome remains to be seen. IMHO Sun > actually hurt themselves by winning a battle or two, but the > War is still being waged. It will be a very big precedent if > in the end, Microsoft is required to incorporates a > competitor's technology into theirs. I would speculate that > by the time that ever happens, Microsoft will OWN the technology. I speaking specifically of the suit alleging that MS changed Java in their VM by extending it. Since MS reverse engineered the language (as Blue Dragon has reverse engineered CFML) there seems to be little basis for a suit, yet a suit was brought. > All of us recognize that Microsoft is spending the big > marketing bucks to push .NET, and there is a pretty big > percentage of users that will adopt the platform. Tool > makers are wise to add support, or risk being left in the dust. Again - I agree completely. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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
