Selling ColdFusion to Clients: Selling ColdFusion to Clients Michael Smith michael@teratech.com TeraTech, Inc.


Speaker Information: Speaker Information Who am I? ColdFusion Developer 10 years with ColdFusion Teach one-on-one and custom classes On site and custom development Fusebox and Process Methodology


Selling ColdFusion to Clients: Selling ColdFusion to Clients What strategies do you use for selling the ColdFusion platform to clients? Particularly when there are multiple possible platforms in the running.


Who is your audience: Who is your audience End users CIO Other developers Other


What platforms compete with ColdFusion?: What platforms compete with ColdFusion? ASP, ASP.Net Java Ruby on Rails PERL PHP


Why is CF great?: Why is CF great? RAD Easy to Learn Powerful Scaleable Built in functions Portable, standards based Extensible


RAD: RAD RAD = Rapid Application Development Iterative Prototyping User involvement Fast! Code quality may suffer


Easy to learn: Easy to learn Tag based Separate files with hyperlinks HTML by default Compiler is hidden from every day use Basic functionality deliberately kept simple More complex functionality as options


Great Learning Resources: Great Learning Resources Extensive documentation Livedocs Forums cf-talk Forta books (and CD examples) Adobe labs User groups and conferences


Powerful: Powerful Hundreds of tags and functions Integration – open standards Extensible Caching Built in Programmer controlled Sophisticated threading model


More power: More power Support for all design patterns, n-tier development, etc High performance and scalability. Complete client (browser) independence Plus extra support for client-side Flash.


Scaleable: Scaleable Largest site in the world runs on ColdFusion (MySpace) Smart automatic threading and resource pooling Clustering Compiles and runs as Java Can use high end J2EE server


Build in functionality: Build in functionality Includes runtime services for charting and graphing full text searching high performance multi-threaded mail delivery Built-in support for XML and web services. Access to COM, CORBA, Java, C/C++, and any operating system specific applications or scripting capabilities.


Portable: Portable Servers from Microsoft, IBM, BEA, Sun, etc OS portability across Windows, Unix, Linux, Solaris, AIX, etc. Full support for all major databases (including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle etc) via standard JDBC drivers


Extensibility: Extensibility CFCs, custom tags, UDF (functions) Include files Java Web services COM


Common Concerns: Common Concerns But it isn’t free CF is too slow CF doesn’t scale CF isn’t secure CF code is badly written It is not made by Microsoft


“But it isn’t free”: “But it isn’t free” Combating the "PHP is Free" or "ASP is Free" argument. Cost of programming vs server Low cost hosting Educational discounts Free editions


“CF is too slow”: “CF is too slow” Depends on programmer not the language Slow apps usually due to database or SQL issues Or poor algorithm Same is true of all other languages


“CF doesn’t scale”: “CF doesn’t scale” True if code not written correctly Not true for professional code Caching built into CF Clustering features built into CF


“CF isn’t secure”: “CF isn’t secure” Depends on programmer not the language Insecure sites usually due to not validating client data or OS/database security Same is true of all other web languages CF supports good security (eg CFQueryParam), Datasource access levels, Security alerts


“CF code is badly written”: “CF code is badly written” Can be true because CF is so easy to learn Not true of professional programmers code CF can be easy to read and maintain Fusebox and other frameworks help


“It is not made by Microsoft”: “It is not made by Microsoft” True! Political considerations One vendor policies Adobe is large too! CF is fully Microsoft compatible Windows, IIS, SQL Server, COM


CF and Java: CF and Java How can Java developers look at ColdFusion in a positive light? http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2007/02/27/coldfusion-for-jsp-developers.html


More CF and Java: More CF and Java Very Large Tag Library on Steroids All parts tested and compatible Easy integration with Java Compiles to Java Deployment as JAR


CF and .Net: CF and .Net CFML on .Net (Blue Dragon) .Net is Web services


ColdFusion as app glue: ColdFusion as app glue


ColdFusion facts: ColdFusion facts 125,000+ ColdFusion servers deployed 300,000+ developers 10,000+ organizations 75+ of the Fortune 100 companies 40% of the Media Metrix Top 50 Web Properties nearly all major branches and agencies of the U.S. federal government


More facts: More facts 290+ million ColdFusion pages (Source: Google) 360+ user groups worldwide Official Adobe Developer Certification Program available Thousands of third-party components and add-ons In use at leading systems integrators, including CSC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte Touche


Partial Customer List: Partial Customer List 192.com ACD Direct Allied Office Products America First Credit Union American Power Conversion Amkor Technology Aspen Skiing Company AT&T Wireless Bank of America Bertelsmann BMW USA Boeing Casio USA Caterpillar Chicago Bears City of Davis, CA County of San Diego, Dept. of Child Support Services Crayola Dallas Stars DHL Dial Corporation East Carolina University eBags Eli Lilly eMCSaatchi FAO Schwarz First Union Foot Locker George Washington University Georgetown University GlobalSpec.com Goodyear Half.com Hasbro


Partial Customer List (cont.): Partial Customer List (cont.) iHotelier Inmarkets Training, Ltd. International Speedway Corporation InvestEdge Jaguar Australia Legato The Limited Mayo Clinic Mayo Health Systems Michelin Moen MySpace MySwitzerland.com NASA Goddard Space Flight Center New York Giants New Era Cap Company New York State Office for Technology One World Alliance Peace Corps Pepsi PGA of America Pottery Barn Prometheus Quaker Oats Roche Pharmaceuticals Rugby Football Union Schlumberger Scott's Corporation Seattle Times United States Senate Siemens Simon & Schuster SmartMoney.com Sprint State of New York Symantec Travelers United States Olympic Committee US Bank The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania


Why is CF Great Really?: Why is CF Great Really? The CF Community! CFUGs Conferences Speakers Listserv – CF-talk, MDCFUG-L “Users helping Users”


What is a CFUG: What is a CFUG ColdFusion User Group Learning CF Answering questions Presentations on CF techniques Networking and friends Free info “Users helping Users”


Resources: Resources http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/proven/ http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/cf_aspnet.html http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2007/02/27/coldfusion-for-jsp-developers.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldfusion#Criticism http://www.gotcfm.com http://www.cffaq.com/


More resources: More resources http://www.reybango.com/index.cfm/2007/2/6/ColdFusion-How-Misconceptions-Continue-to-Plague-It http://www.reybango.com/index.cfm/2007/2/9/Tim-Buntel-Really-Cares-About-ColdFusion-Developers http://www.forta.com/cf/using/ http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/read/46362.htm


Questions: Questions Ask me now or email me later michael@teratech.com