It's interesting times we live in and things continue to look up for the tech market and ColdFusion developers in particular, however something is missing from the mix.
I invite folks to glance at the Q205 Investor Update and look at Slide 5. Nowhere is the product ColdFusion or even JRun mentioned in the three synergistic businesses that Macromedia operates in. ColdFusion isn't mentioned specifically until it is mentioned in the same breath as Director on Slide 16, where we find out there are hundreds of thousands of users of both products. Talk about dilution! We get 14 more seconds talking about ColdFusion talking to cell phones. Breeze gets 4 to 5 slides, mobile technology interests get a great number of slides. I suppose we should be glad that CF and Director are last but not least together! What's not apparent is top down committment to the growth of the CF market. and to a degree a high level dismissal of the product's potential importance. That's just my thoughts at the moment ;P - Calvin -----Original Message----- From: Ben Forta Date: 10/20/04 10:52 pm To: CF-Talk Subj: RE: CF developer numbers Interesting thread, on a whole bunch of levels. A few comments, and then an open question ... 1) Lots of messages imply that MM is not working on getting the word out there. And I know for a fact that that is not true, it is what I do almost full-time, and others work at it too. Maybe many are not seeing it, I'll get back to that in a moment. 2) We are selling lots of CF. I can't disclose numbers and financials and stuff without getting into all sorts of trouble, but I don't think I'll get fired for saying that CF is indeed selling, and selling well. 3) What I have noticed is a dramatic change in who I am speaking to, and the types of conversations. A few years ago I was talking to lots of .com start-ups and developments shops and consultants and departmental decision makers. I honestly don't bump into many of these anymore. But I do spend lots of time talking to corporate decision makers, in the past few weeks I have met with no less than a dozen well known very high profile corporations, all using CF and lots of it. And this is reflected in the types of sales we are making, and who we are selling to. With the changes in CFMX, the maturation of the market in general, the tightening of the purse strings and the subsequent trend towards consolidation and bringing projects back in house, we are finding ourselves selling CF differently. Even pricing, which some of you pointed out as an obstacle to CF growth, is in reality not much of an obstacle. We rarely finds ourselves talking to those for whom the cost of CF Standard is a deal-breaker, those who want to only look at the initial cost. I can state quite emphatically that I have not heard price as an objection in a long time now, not where we are finding ourselves playing. The market has changed and space has changed. 4) Which brings me back to point #1. We are blowing the CF horn loud and clear, but ads in trade rags and banners on coding sites and blurbs in tech journals don't cut it anymore. We've ran ad campaigns, we know what they cost and know how effective they are (or are not), and this has necessitated a change in how we blow that horn (and where we blow it). And so my question to you is this ... What do you think would make a difference? Or put even more bluntly, if you were my boss and could dictate how I spent my time, what would you want me doing to spread the gospel according to Saint CF? --- Ben -----Original Message----- From: Rey Bango [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 8:03 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: CF developer numbers Man Dave, this one sentence sums up my gripes with MM: "But maybe if MM did show more of what cfm can do it would get those ppl over from the other launguages." You can throw in the kitchen sink but if you don't get the word out, it doesn't mean squat. Great post bud. Rey... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=36 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:182157 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
