Jake Munson's recent blog entry about ColdFusion's market share made me do some thinking. We all benefit when CF gains market share, since there will be 1) more work for CF developers, and 2) a more robust community, with more open source projects and more code to be shared among us. So how can CF be put in front of developers who aren't otherwise exposed to it? Is there any way its use could be effectively free, like PHP is?
So it occurred to me that there would be a way to get it in front of a large number of developers. There are a few hosting companies who really reach a large audience, such as Yahoo! Domains. Whatever such companies offer as hosting tools is what the population at large will try. Now I ask you-- if someone were to sign up with Yahoo! for their web site, and be given the choice of using PHP or ColdFusion to code their site, which would they choose? ColdFusion, of course!
So why on earth hasn't Adobe struck some kind of deal to get CF offered on Yahoo! Domains? Instead of making someone choose CF as their hosting plan, why not get it to be offered for free to whoever signs up? Adobe would still make money from a licensing fee, and ColdFusion would get huge exposure.
Comments (2)
January 15, 2008
10:47AM | #
GoDaddy offers ColdFusion but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything good about it... That's not ColdFusion's fault but GoDaddy's implementation...
But I'd gather most people would pick PHP. There are a zillion good, free, open source applications available for PHP (blogs, forums, shopping carts, CMS, etc) vs. a very small number available for ColdFusion.
January 15, 2008
14:25PM | #
I think this is a great idea. Things like this are what /really/ help a company increase market share. When I talk about advertising, most people think I mean ads (TV, magazines, etc.), but marketing is a LOT more than that. Why is Windows where it is today? Because Microsoft had killer deals with the PC manufacturers when Windows 95 came out. If you wanted to by a PC, it came with Windows. The ads were secondary to the clout Microsoft gained because of those distributer deals.