> And as I ALSO said - in not so many words - Who is to say that "community > momentum" wasn't/isn't part of the marketing? The smaller your > product/service - the more you rely on "free" marketing techniques.
Adobe does a pretty good job with supporting community-driven marketing. I don't know how many people here run into this, but Adobe sponsors conferences, user groups, and all kinds of learning events. > Marketing - IS the key to success. Yes. (If by success you mean - getting > people to buy, use, or believe what you do/say.) You may be thinking of > "traditional" marketing delivery methods (TV, Radio, print) - But now with > the internets - we have all this new stuff like blogs, user groups, forums, > emails, etc. Again, though, marketing by Adobe alone is not sufficient for success. Adobe sponsors conferences and user groups organized by others because they drive attendance and mindshare. Lots of Adobe people are on blogs, Facebook, etc. I think they're as accessible, or more accessible, than their counterparts in many other products. > (Please Note: Anyone with a signature here is marketing... > Sean, Dave, Mark, etc. They have links so people will go to their sites... > That's Marketing. They are generating awareness of their "products/services" > through a medium. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I am just > pointing it out.) Yeah, that's kind of the point. I don't post on cf-talk because I'm altruistic, I do it because it helps sell me within the CF world, and helps me sell CF within the larger world. > So what I was originally getting at - was that while Adobe has a huge > marketing plan in place - it certainly doesn't have the full weight of the > company behind it - and it probably isn't being as aggressive as some of us > would like to see it. Well, that's the whole problem. No matter how much they do, it won't be enough for some people. > I believe they have the power to own the market. To make CF "the hot > language". They certainly were able to put the smack down on the graphics > industry. So, I would like them to add a little more attention here. (Not > that that would make them lower prices, but I digress) The problem with that theory is that CF isn't like other products they sell. There really aren't many compelling alternatives to Photoshop and Dreamweaver. There are lots of alternatives to CF, and they're not all owned by companies that Adobe can buy up - remember, Adobe's dominance in the graphics industry is largely due to them buying the right companies. Are they going to buy MS to own .NET? Who can they buy to own PHP? CF may be good, great, "first among equals", but Adobe simply doesn't have the position to change these things. > Perfect example: Purchase the Adobe Master Collection. $2500. Comes with > everything they make - well.... except ColdFusion and Flex. ... and LiveCycle, and Flash Media Server, and Connect, and Captivate, and RoboHelp, and ... I can see the argument that Flex should be included in their GUI tools packages, but CF just doesn't fit. Many people buying Master Collection, etc, aren't interested in running servers, and wouldn't care for the significant price increase that would surely result. But presumably, you're not advocating a price increase for Master Collection, you just want free stuff, right? > And what is with charging the same price for CF8 AND CF9? WTF? I'm not sure what you want here. Should they increase the price for CF 9, since it has shiny new features? > Missed opportunities gentlemen... That is all I am saying. Adobe would presumably like to make a profit on CF. Adobe has a limited advertising budget to spend on CF. Given those two facts, what you consider a "missed opportunity" may well be just a way for Adobe to make less money from CF. And, if Adobe does start making less money (or losing money) on CF, things are going to be a lot worse for you than they are now. > I mean - if we - the developers - are really the driving force behind > promoting their products - shouldn't they spend a little more time giving > "me" warm fuzzies? Why is it your job to make me feel better about what they > are doing? In short: It's not. And you won't. Unless of course - they've > convinced you to try the product and you really liked it -and then feel "the > need" to share that info... But it all starts with them convincing you it's > worth your time to "try it out." Sneaky little Acme... I tell people how great CF is because, as a CF developer, it serves my best interests - as a CF developer, I can do things faster and arguably better than .NET, clients get results faster, and everyone's happy. Again, I think your expectations from Adobe are somewhat unreasonable, and apparently so does Adobe. Adobe provides lots of resources for developers, they sponsor conferences, attend trade shows, etc, etc. But they get to figure out how to price their products, and if you're not happy with that, there just isn't a whole lot you can do about that. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ http://training.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) on GSA Schedule, and provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers, online, or onsit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? 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