Joseph, Microsoft was a "loosing team" when IBM decided to partner with them. They had done business but never got a strong enough foot hold to be a "player" in the direction of the future if we go with your definition. The same could be said for Mac just a short time ago... and what a bounce back they are making with the very foundation that was before a loosing mix.
Pardon my frankness here but your reasoning is (from my perspective) somewhat like a Winnie the Pooh adventure my children like. "The sky is falling". The reason I gave the phrase as somewhat is that you have a more advanced ability to describe a successful project and technology. Yet to surmise things like ColdFusion failing to exist because it's not XML compliant is a bit premature. ASP.Net and C#.Net are basically scripted languages when it comes to web sites. They seem to be doing well and don't have signs of loosing market share. (Also... there is the issue of market share as well as market size. Web markets are growing... so even holding a market share is not a sign of stagnation, it could still be growing. And CF is apparently growing alive and well.) There have been deserters (heh, forgive the term) from the start of CF. This may be good for them, and may work out. I remember growing up in New England and watching Patriots fans settle for not being the best game in the league. They remained Patriots fans just the same. This will be true of developers and business owners. In fact there are still die hard "Amiga Computer" fans out there! So, let's face it... the future of ColdFusion isn't here today and gone tomorrow. Adobe isn't likely to pull it from their line without first giving it a go of it! (In fact the logical consideration is they will give it a solid attempt at making an upgrade that shows they a serious about making it a revenue stream.) This would lead someone to believe that CF has a predictable lifespan for at least four to six years! (And in the technical world that's a good life span!) The bigger question is the role of rich user interfaces. That is the very reason that Adobe wants to buy Macromedia. Wall Street has written an article on the future of the web (I was told) sighting the Flash technology. XAML is a player in the future that right now is owned by Macromedia. There is no second dog at the moment. The big question for me is how they will leverage the strengths and adjust the gaps to make it market ready to handle companies like Microsoft as they enter into the arena. The inclusion of MM and Adobe should make a stronger player in that respect. With the resurge of the Mac market and the love of Adobe that only goes to bolster opportunity for ColdFusion. Again, some fans don't have the "same" vision. I am not saying that executives at the companies cannot mess the positive momentum we see today. What I am saying is that you need to market what your customers will buy. If you don't think they will buy ColdFusion you won't have enough faith to sell it even if you like it. (I used to be an Amiga VAR. I was selling enough machines and software and hardware to make a go of it... when they went bankrupt. My customers were VERY HAPPY with everything but the end of the company as they had known it.) In conclusion... Flash, FLEX, ColdFusion, Zorn, (Blue Dragon, and others), CFEclipse, etc. ... this is a happening market. There are some aspects of other products that are better. (Don't let MM hear this, heh, got to maintain posture.) The fact is that we are deluded if we think that CF and it's tools will be better than everything else everywhere all the time. (Guys who sell dotNet often do it because it's the 'soft sell'. I find that most of the time ColdFusion is the 'right sell'.) My conscience obligates me to push for CF because of what I know about the greater market and products. For me the positives are delightful choices in the market at large even with the rhythmic throng of "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" song of the siren voices! Fellow CFer, John Farrar -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph Flanigan Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 5:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CFCDev] WOT: CFML as XML I said ColdFusion was a weak programming choice, not that it is was a weak language. (Don't forget I am a ColdFusion fan -- fans can cheer for a loosing team.) Some of the factors of a programming choice include, business, technology, market, skills and support. What are your arguments to the contrary? Joseph ---------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to cfcdev. To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the words 'unsubscribe cfcdev' as the subject of the email. CFCDev is run by CFCZone (www.cfczone.org) and supported by CFXHosting (www.cfxhosting.com). CFCDev is supported by New Atlanta, makers of BlueDragon http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/index.cfm An archive of the CFCDev list is available at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
