ColdFusion Anyone?

[bdominick]

if your client ever gets to the point they need a dedicated server -- ouch! Now THEY have to purchase it! And what if they grow beyond that? Its a per server, not a per domain license I believe?

This is all true and valid, though your first license will technically work on multiple machines -- you know, for testing.

Sure some would argue that if they get that big they can afford it, but people always seem to equate growth with success until they actually start growing and get a rude awakening when their costs tend to grow faster than their gross profits.

Yep, this can happen.

I would be a little leary of jumping on CF myself, because at some point I would be suspicious that Macromedia may decide to shelve it. It can't be generating that many sales, but I could be wrong.

Actually, CF is produced by Adobe now. And this was the first argument a PHPer made to me when I started using CF -- in 1999...

If you build a site in CF8, you can use ASP and Java classes and lots of different scripts, web services, etc. You're not exactly stuck with CF.

And then I am a PHP fanatic so my views may be skewed.

Haha, mine too, in case you couldn't tell.

Thank you both for your sharing your insights on ColdFusion. This pretty much validates what I was thinking. It really doesn’t sound like it is worth all the expense, especially if the license is per domain! I have only had to turn down one job that required ColdFusion, so I won’t lose sleep over it.

The license is per server. You can happily host many CF clients on the same server.

It's rare that you'll get a job that "requires" CF, unless the client already has a CF setup and wants dev work done on top of it. I don't even know if I've ever gotten a gig like that, since there are plenty of CF devs around pimping themselves as such (which I don't). I usually turn new clients on to CF when they find out how much faster I'll deliver their apps.

[Websync]

bdominick –

Sorry it took so long to respond, but Wow! Thank you so much for all the great feedback and information you contributed to this thread. I am sure that it will help to answer many questions for other people too.

Happy Holidays

[Websync]

The license is per server. You can happily host many CF clients on the same server.

This is good news. I continue to have issues with the pricing of Adobe software in general, but at least it is not per domain! That would be so over the top.

[jmarcv]

Just keep in mind that -per server - can get expensive when you need to expand to the point where, like one of my clients, you have 10-15 servers in one domain! Ouch! I have always heard very good things about CF, but my only questioning is that it looks like the product you are purchasing is not something that you will be modifying? Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like you admin it, not program in it? In which case if its not code development you are looking at, I would find out what the functionality differences are first. My 2cents

[Websync]

Just keep in mind that -per server - can get expensive when you need to expand to the point where, like one of my clients, you have 10-15 servers in one domain! Ouch!

LOL - Ouch is right! And you are correct - when it comes to programming I have more of a need to hire a freelance programmer then start trying to learn it all myself. Design and information architecture are my forte not app development, but things overlap so often in web development that it triggers my curiosity.

I first came upon CF when I purchased DW UltraDev4, but never had the opportunity to deal with it. So I have continued to have many questions and as you said, I should at least know the differences and their functionalities.

As for me, if I purchase that shopping cart software, I will go with the PHP version. I am simply more familiar it. I just want something that will allow me to easily integrate code “as I go” within a design – instead of having to deal with Open Source or third party customization. I like to create my own site structure and templates. It almost takes longer to figure out what someone else did then to just do it myself!

Your 2 cents is priceless and very much appreciated.

[bdominick]

Actually, priji, to be super technical, CF is not considered a "framework" but an environment or platform. That is, it doesn't include a coding methodology. It's wide open. There are "application development frameworks" that have been invented to work using ColdFusion, such as Fusebox and Mach II. These are coding standards, file- and variable-naming conventions, etc, that ensure dev-style consistency between applications and between developers. But CF is wide open, just like PHP, to be used in any way the code and the application server software (the platform/environment) will work together. This differs sharply from Ruby on Rails, for instance, which includes a strict framework.