... is this what we're going to be reading in the not-too-distant future? I'm sorry for the provocative subject in this post, but I think there's a real danger that Macromedia will depart the server market in Australia, leaving us all high and dry. I do hope this is not true. If I'm mistaken and it's not true, I'll be delighted and I'll gladly take all this back.
Oh I know that Macromedia people all say "NO NO NO!!! Cold Fusion is a core product for us!" but their actions dont appear to support this -IN AUSTRALIA. (I'm not talking about other markets, they have little or no relevance to us on a day-to-day level) If ColdFusion is such an important part of the strategy, where is the activity? Perhaps there's lots of activity, but I dont see it anywhere. I learned last night that Macromedia in Australia have ONE person working on new ColdFusion server installations in Australia. ONE. Can this possibly be true? One guy is supposed to take on Microsoft and PHP? If ColdFusion is important to Macromedia in Australia, where is the promotion? The advertising? Pr? Seminars? Trade shows? Australian MM People at user groups? Australian MM people on CFAussie and CF-TALK? ColdFusion doesnt have the 'sex appeal' of the RIAs and Flex and these new fangled things, but for most of us it's the core of our businesses. Few of the companies I've contacted this year have advanced to CFMX. Most have stayed with CF5. Who is supposed to be trading these people up to later servers? The distributors arent. They dont promote ColdFusion at all as far as I can see. They'll gladly give you a price if you ask for it, but that's not promotion/selling. That's order taking. Who's doing selling? If the existing customers can't be persuaded to move to CFMX, what's the point of having another new server? Who is going to be trying to move the site owners to Blackstone? One guy?? I tried to get a business going several years ago in servers, but Macromedia and the distributor at the time, Firmware bashed that on the head and bluntly said I wasnt allowed. (I tried to re-order a subscription for a client and was told by Firmware's sales office that resellers weren't permitted to sell subscriptions.) Either that's still the rule, or no one cares to offer any help/guidance/encouragement to get me to sell servers or upgrades. And anyway the confusion over prices between the US web site and local pricing makes it a risky business for a reseller anyway. So if it's not practical for resellers to sell server software, and Macromedia here isnt selling servers, who the hell is? If they are relying on the resellers to sell servers, where are the sales briefings? The emails? The brochures in the mail? Promotional offers? Marketing campaigns? Even a paragraph or two in the IT section of the newspapers wouldnt be hard. I do hope I've got the wrong end of the stick here, and/or misunderstood. But I'd like to know just what Macromedia are doing in Australia to develop the server market. I've heard 'motherhood statements' like "we're often talking to banks and major corporates about servers". Oh yea? How many banks have coldfusion? The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac dont even support "minor technologies like coldfusion" in their payment gateways. What I fear is that Macromedia here in Australia are prepared to walk away from the server business, believing it's too hard. I fear they're going to roll over and concede defeat and just sell the add-ons - the flex, the flash apps, the central and the development tools. In which case I'm out of business too. One of the truths of the world we live in is that nothing stays the same. If something doesnt grow it shrinks. If MM dont try to grow the server business here, it's going to shrink, and all of us developers will see our work shrink with it. Please .. please let me be wrong. -- Cheers Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia AFP Webworks http://afpwebworks.com .com,.net,.org domains from AUD$20/Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:184461 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=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
