If #ColdFusion or #CFML are “dying”, then why are there still 12 active conferences covering them?!

URL: http://www.carehart.org/blog/client/index.cfm/2012/9/12/12_active_CF_CFML_conferences
Often we hear some assert that CF’s dying, whether they mean CF the product or CFML the language. I want to make one contention against that which I don’t hear too often at all:

There are an awful lot of currently active CF/CFML conferences for such a “dying” product and/or language.

I count 12 annual conferences (for the current year) which cover the topics (CF or CFML) entirely or as a major track, as listed in the category on CFML conferences which I keep updated in my CF411 resource.

Here first are the next several coming up:

• NCDevCon (Raleigh, NC/USA) coming Sep 29-30 2012
• MuraCon (Sacramento, CA/USA) coming Oct 10-11 2012
• Open Source CFML for Government Conference, (Washington, DC/USA) coming Oct 9 2012
• CFCamp (Munich, Germany) coming Oct 15-16 2012
• cf.Objective(ANZ) (Melbourne, Australia) coming Nov 1-2 2012
• Adobe MAX (Los Angeles, CA/USA) coming May 2013, and the associated ColdFusion Unconference
• Scotch on the Rocks (Edinburgh, Scotland), coming Jun 2013

For more details, including links, organizers, etc., see that CF411 page about them that I mentioned.

And here are those which have occurred in the past several months (we can reasonably expect new dates for them, for next year, to come from the organizers):

• RIACon (Rockville, MD/USA) last held Aug 2012
• D2W (Kansas City, MO/USA) last held May 2012
• cf.Objective() (Minneapolis, MN/USA) last held May 2012
• WebDU (Sydney, Australia) last held May 2012
• OpenCF Summit (Dallas, TX/USA) last held in Feb 2012

Just one more sign of the still-healthy and active communities surrounding CF, CFML, and the alternative/open source engines.

A couple more thoughts on CF’s vitality

Now, it’s not the point of this entry to host a debate about CF’s vitality, pro or con. And I certainly hope that supporters of alternative CFML engines would grant that I’m clearly acknowledging them above, even if they would argue against CF’s longevity itself.

Still, I’d like to take a moment to point out just a couple other signs of vitality for Adobe CF the product (ACF, as some term it), starting with the recent CF10 release, and the still more recent 10.0.1 update, as well as the recently offered product roadmap for the next two releases, to name just a couple. These are simply not tell-tale signs of a swan song for the product.

Indeed, those of us who’ve been around a while have heard this assertion of CF’s coming death for several years, which is ironic in itself, as Mark Twain might quip!

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt

More than that, I bring a historical perspective to my sentiment. I came to CF 15 years ago after leaving a mainframe product I’d worked with for 15 years, where everyone was saying then in 1996 that THAT product (and the mainframe) was dying.

Guess what: now 15 years later, that product and mainframes in general are STILL in use. Enterprise solutions just don’t go away easily. There’s too much investment in them. (And yes, CF and CFML are parts of an enterprise solution for many.)

Anyway, regardless of your favoring ACF or alternatives, I just wanted to make the main point above that for a “dying” product and/or language, there’s certainly a lot of interest in holding conferences about them.

(Perhaps I could have made that point and left out the additional commentary on ACF itself, but we seem to hear more often recently from those who would argue against it. Just trying to offer a little balance for the discussion.)

Finally, I really don’t want to hear from folks in the comments here about why they think CF and/or CFML “really are dying”. There are plenty of other places where that’s been done to death, and it’s just not the point of this entry. (Let’s see who in that group speaks up first, having missed this simple request. Of course, I welcome comments about any other aspects of the blog entry.)

By Charlie Arehart