> Let's say I have a website I want to cluster on 10 servers. With CF, > that's 10 production licenses at whatever cost you can find CF at. > With .NET, it's zero cost, so there can be some additional cost > savings.
If you're myopic enough to look at that as a valid comparison then you really SHOULD move to .NET. Macromedia is NOT Microsoft. ColdFusion cannot be free at that level. Microsoft sells (rather expensive) servers and supporting tools (SQL Server, Exchange, etc) by taking a hit on .NET. How would MM recoup the massive costs of development for giving away CF? If you think that statement "proves" some point, so be it. But remember also that this argument is hardly new: the same was said (repeatedly) when ASP was free and CF cost money (and compared to today both sucked). CF not only continued to seel, but thrived. It continues to thrive. > Also, no matter what way you cut it, CF Enterprise is quite expensive. CF Enterprise is a god-damn, freakin' bargain. For $5,000 (less actually, with partner discounts) I can cap a $70,000 WebSpere installation and saving 10 times that in development costs. For those ten servers (let's assume IBM blades running AIX and WebSphere) the total cost of installation and software runs quickly into the million dollar range. ColdFusion is an afterthought. This is assuming that any entprise would actually build an application like that... but most won't. If an application needed 10 clustered application servers you're also probably looking at least 5-10 clustered presentation servers. Perhaps a few SSL accelerators. Maybe a Local-Director or Site Selector out in front. The infrastructure costs alone can top 10 million. Want a Database? Oracle and its associated infrastructure will probably add at least another 2 million. Content Managment? Expect to throw at least a million at Vignette (and it's associated consultants) or a competator. Now throw in what we must assume to be a significant development, testing and management effort. Double your infrastructure costs at least. So, does CF add to this cost? Yes! Does it pay for itself in time savings? Most happy users will give a resounding yes! The simple fact remains that it's not applicable to every project and to every developer. There are also projects where the right developer with the wrong tool will cost you more than anything else. But another simple fact remains: CF is still going strong. The people using it are not all idiots unable to see the great glowing orb of truth over the hill. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:187461 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
