"We’re losing them to PHP, .Net, Python, Ruby, Java, etc. "

I'm sure you have heard this quote before, on forums, blogs, twitter, etc... and I wanted to share a bit of my opinion about it. The big players right now are .NET, Java and "PHP". Reason is not because of frameworks, open source, language features, etc...

There has been a huge shift in how technology is adopted in the enterprise, where technology is not the main focus, (remember the IBM ad? "Shirts! We sell Shirts!"). Decisions about technology is no longer being driven from the confines of the IT department but from top management focusing on short and long term strategic goals. Organizations now have CEO’s that are asked to do more with less (that’s why being a software engineer is now a great field to be in!). But the days of building applications to support initiatives from the scratch are now gone!

So here’s the problem in my opinion (here are some examples to make my point, by no means a complete list):

• .NET has Sharepoint and Microsoft CRM
• Java has Oracle software, IBM software, SugarCRM, etc...
• PHP has Drupal

All these technologies have a great number of web based enterprise ready software (both commercial and open source) that can be quickly acquired and implemented and customized directly or via third party plugins/modules (not saying it’s always smooth) that is being marketed deliberately to the top level management. Meanwhile, we in the ColdFusion community debate feverishly over whether or not the server or the IDE should be open source, or what frameworks to use, should we have this feature or that feature... etc.. But we are lacking those products (yes we have Mura and a few others, and I’ll address that in a bit, so please bear with me) that make organizations feel confident that they are not taking a huge gamble starting something from scratch or whether or not it will have a well supported upgrade path.

ColdFusion is an awesome platform, I love it and it has been great for me, my career and my mortage bank! ;)

But unless we stop blaming Adobe for all the problems, and start building applications/products that will matter to organizations and make investing in this platform more attractive and worthwhile to upper management it doesn’t matter how many features you put in ColdFusion and it will remain a niche market. I see MuraCMS as a great catalyst for that change, taking how well Drupal has evolved from a simple CMS to an application stack full of different modules built by the community so business can quickly mashup applications to serve their needs.

PHP's popularity is not because of the features or syntax (who in their right mind want to use object->property instead of object.property!) but hugely because Drupal has been the catalyst, Sharepoint has been a huge catalyst for .NET, Oracle and IBM software are a huge catalyst for Java. We as a community need to stop blaming and making excuses (I’m by no means innocent here!). We need to get more in tune with the business world, find out what they want and need and deliver them. I think ColdFusion’s future is not as a server but as a platform full of customizable COTS products that helps business grow! Folks want to talk open source, ok. let’s do it.. but let’s focus on the great thing about open source (which is not about free software!) and let’s start as a community building these products (CRMs, CMSs, ERPs) that can be customized by ColdFusion developers and earn the market share back.

I’m curious what you guys think, feel free to bash me (or more preferrably my thoughts) if I’m wrong here (as my friends say, I have thick skin!)

Don't miss the next Capital Area ColdFusion User Group meeting! Tuesday, October 12th Ray Camden, the ColdFusion Jedi Master, will be presenting on "Practices of a Modern Developer".

For more detailed information and to RSVP go to http://www.dc-coldfusion.com/index.cfm?event=meetings.showMeeting&meetingId=3

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Not sure how many of you know this, but I'm originally from Brazil. In the past few years, I have seen a great amount of buzz increase about ColdFusion in South America, particularly in Brazil.

I was proud to find out that there will be a Web Day in Brazil totally devoted to discussing and promoting the ColdFusion platform and its capabilities online.

The event will take place on April 11th. For more information and schedule/agenda go to www.cfwebday.com.

The CFUnited 2009 Topics Survey is now open, you can go there and vote for your favorite topics you'd like to see presented.

I have re-submitted my topic (you can find it under the "Please choose 4 from the list of topics that cover OO" section) from last year as it was well received and attended, and I'm hoping to make this year's presentation even better, so please head on over to the survey and voice your opinion and hopefully vote for my as well. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Leveraging Basic Object Oriented Concepts and Design Patterns in ColdFusion - Phill Nacelli

This session will introduce you to the basic concepts of object oriented development along with some basic design patterns by looking at real world code examples. Today's ColdFusion developers are bombarded by complex terms such as Singletons, Facades, Data Access Objects(DAOs) and other design patterns, making it hard for the novice to understand these valuable concepts without looking at actual code. This session will demystify those terms and give you the basic knowledge needed to build a foundation into the real advantages of Object Oriented programming.

For those of you that attended my session, my presentations are coming, I swear! I just found out that my recorded preso did not have any audio so I'm planning on recording another one soon and I'll be sure to add some of the stuff that we didn't have time to cover during the preso.

If you have any questions or comments or anything else you'd like to see, please feel free to post on this entry and I'll get back to you soon.

Cheers...

As promised, here are the slides and code examples for my CF.Objective() 2008 presentation. Feel free to post any comments or questions and I'll get to them asap.

As I mentioned after the presentation, I'm also going to be putting together an intermediate version of this talk covering more complex patterns. Also, I have been told that CF.Objective() 2009 will be tentatively scheduled for May 6-9. So now you have plenty of time to begin schmoozing your bosses to let you go. I have to say that this is THE conference for learning the high level skills needed to build enterprise level applications in ColdFusion.

AboutWeb, LLC has an exciting opportunity for an Object-Oriented ColdFusion Developer to join our Solutions Team in Rockville. Selected new team member should have a solid background in ColdFusion MX 7/8 and experience with the following:

• Demonstrated experience developing Object-Oriented applications.
• Experience with MVC or 3-tier Architecture.
• CSS, Custom Tags.
• Production level development in Java, .NET, Flex or Ajax will be considered pluses.
• CF Certification, or willingness to obtain certification.
• Current Clearance or ability to pass background investigation.

If you are interested, we would like to talk to you soon! Please email your resume to jarchy[at]aboutweb[dot]com.

Just a quick reminder that we are holding the postponed Capital Area Flex User's Group(CAPFug) meeting from last week tonight, Wednesday, December 12th, onsite and broadcasting live via Adobe Connect!

Theo Rushin will be talking about "Working with the SQL Lite Database in Flex on AIR" and Samer Sadek, AboutWeb Software Architect, will present on "Using ColdFusion with AIR".

The first presentation will start at 6:30pm here at the AboutWeb Office and as always, free pizza, sodas and snacks are provided during the social break between sessions.

For live broadcast: http://adobechats.adobe.acrobat.com/capfug1207

Capital Area Flex User's Group(CAPFug)
AboutWeb Office
6177 Executive Blvd
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 468-9246

Due to inclement weather in the Washigton, DC Area this meeting has been postponed to next week. I'll be posting an update soon.

Just a quick note that tomorrow evening, Wednesday, December 4th, the Capital Area Flex User's Group(CAPFug) will be meeting onsite and broadcasting live via Adobe Connect!

Theo Rushin will be talking about "Working with the SQL Lite Database in Flex on AIR" and Samer Sadek, AboutWeb Software Architect, will present on "Using ColdFusion with AIR".

The first presentation will start at 6:30pm here at the AboutWeb Office and as always, free pizza, sodas and snacks are provided during the social break between sessions.

For live broadcast: http://adobechats.adobe.acrobat.com/capfug1207

Capital Area Flex User's Group(CAPFug)
AboutWeb Office
6177 Executive Blvd
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 468-9246

Just want to pass on the word that Adobe has released a security advisory yesterday for ColdFusion 7 and 8. This resolves an identified vulnerability that could potentially allow session hijacking for applications utilizing CFID or CFTOKEN. This does not apply to applications using J2EE Session management.

More details and how to get your ColdFusion server updated can be found on this link: