Hurray! ColdFusion 2016 no longer uses Akamai Download Manager
Note: This blog post is from 2016. Some content may be outdated--though not necessarily. Same with links and subsequent comments from myself or others. Corrections are welcome, in the comments. And I may revise the content as necessary.Here's some news that Adobe may not herald, but many users certainly would want to know and celebrate: as of today, when you download ColdFusion 2016 (whether the trial edition, developer edition, or on buying Standard or Enterprise, or the Express edition introduced in CF11), you are no longer forced to go through the Akamai Download Manager! :-)
For many, that's all they need to know. For others, there are some more points worth discussing. Read on, if that may interest you.
As for the CF Team's compulsion (or being compelled) to put the two products together (as one installer that then installs two products), I can offer no justification myself. I suspect it will be derided more than praised, and perhaps someday the two will be split out.
FWIW, there IS indeed a "scaled downs version" of CF, which is free for development. Many missed it: the Express edition. More at https://helpx.adobe...., though sadly that page (frmo the CF11 timeframe) points to a link which STILL downloads the full trial edition, which is a mistake. Until that's fixed, you can find links to the Express edition that Adobe has shared by Adam Cameron at his post from yesterday on the removal of the Akamai downloader: http://blog.adamcame... . Hoping that the Adobe team will make it more clear where/how to get that free Express edition. (I will note that it's what's included in ColdFuison Builder3 and above as its embeddable CF server.)
I didn't know Adobe have re-introduced an Express version. (They don't even convey things to their user base, heaven knows how the outside world get to hear about any new, positive CF stuff.) I wonder what the licencing restrictions are.
The Mac version of CF (full) is half the size of the Windows version. Either Adobe are more efficient at coding on the Mac or it's missing some of the Windows features?