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ColdFusion 2023 released, May 17 2023: resources and thoughts

ColdFusion 2023 has been released today, May 17 2023. For more on the many features, see the following several Adobe blog posts and substantial documentation resources they released also today, about which I offer some additional comment below.

I also discuss changes in OS support (saving you having to compare the docs discussing that), as well as the change to CF2023 running on Java 17 (which you could miss, as it's not highlighted by Adobe in any of the announcement resources.) I also discuss changes in the licensing document/EULA (again, to save you having to do that comparison), as well as an observation about pricing (it has not changed since CF2021).

I also discuss some migration considerations and close by pointing out the Hidden Gems in CF2023 talk that I did, based on the prerelease. I plan to update that in time based on this final release.

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New URL for signing up to the CFML Slack: cfml-slack.net

TLDR; the URL for joining the CFML Slack workspace and channels has changed. If you want to join the CFML Slack, use the form at cfml-slack.net. As some may have noticed, the old URL for joining (cfml-slack.herokuapp.com) no longer works.

Since it's mentioned in many places on the web, I wanted to help spread this news. This cfml-slack.net URL replaces that, while the URL for the CFML Slack channel itself is unchanged: cfml.slack.com.

For more explanation/context, and especially if you may be new to considering the CFML Slack, read on.

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Lots more to the current CF2021, 2018 prerelease than folks may realize

Have you checked out the many things coming in the updates for CF2021 and 2018 in prerelease the past few weeks? Anyone is welcome to join the prerelease, logging in with an Adobe account. It's a lot more substantial than I think most realize.

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As Rakshith moves on, ColdFusion Product Management past and future

Some of you may heard that late last week Adobe CF Product Manager Rakshith Naresh announced in various online communities that he was stepping down from the role and indeed moving on from Adobe. Here's his post on the Facebook CF Programmers group. As he noted there, he had "found an interesting opportunity outside of Adobe", and he added that "ColdFusion continues to be an important part [of] Adobe and nothing changes for the product with this. Adobe is actively looking to hire a replacement for my role."

Of course I wish Rakshith all the best. He guided the release of CF2021, which many think is one of the best new CF releases in that timeframe, and he will be missed. But time marches on, as does CF.

In this post, I reminisce first about who the past (surprisingly few) CF Product Managers were, and then I muse about what the next CF PM will face, and what all this means for CF going forward.

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Come speak on the CFMeetup (online CFUG). A FAQ for prospective speakers

Note: This blog post is from 2019. 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.
Do you have a presentation you've given or would like to offer to a CF/CFML audience?

There is a waiting audience of a couple thousand members of the Online ColdFusion Meetup, the online CF user group which I host, who would love to see your talk and/or its recording that we'd make. This post is a FAQ for such prospective speakers.

TLDR: We'd love to have you present. Anyone can. You don't need to have a webcam: it's just your presentation and/or demos, via screenshare. We can meet about any week. Let me know if you're interested. See the first bullet below.

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CF2020 to offer still-better deployment on Docker, cloud

Note: This blog post is from 2019. 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.
There's great news coming regarding Adobe ColdFusion 2020, with regard to deployment of CF via Docker images and/or in the cloud.

Adobe's Director of Engineering for CF, Ashish Garg, recently held a wide-ranging interview with Michaela Light (on the CF Alive podcast) about the CF2020 roadmap. Ashish shared news of some substantial changes planned in the next release regarding modularity in the engine, the size of installers/containers, and their startup time, as well as matters like licensing of containers, logging within them, monitoring of them, and more.

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"Charlie, we'd like to buy CF. Are you an Adobe reseller?"

Note: This blog post is from 2019. 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.
I've had clients ask the above question over the years, including today. The short answer is "no", but I do have a recommendation of who you should consider buying CF from, at a discount, and with other benefits.

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Released today: CF2016, or 'ColdFusion (2016 release)'. What's new, and more

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.
If you're not following the Adobe CF team blog, you may have missed the announcement there today of the newest version of CF, ColdFusion 2016. More on the name in a moment.

And while that Adobe blog post mentions a few of the main new features, as is nearly always the case it leaves out many other new features which may interest folks. It also doesn't point to resources to learn more. I do those things here in this post.

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CFHour going off the air. End of an era? Thanks, Dave and Scott

Note: This blog post is from 2014. 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.
If you haven't heard the news yet, the CFHour podcast has had it's last show, it seems. Dave (Ferguson) and Scott (Stroz) announced the news at the end of their last episode (#213), quietly and without fanfare (or any advanced indications), citing time challenges, etc.

I'm holding a glimmer of hope that it's all an April Fool's prank, but if true it's indeed the end of an era and time to pause and reflect as if on the passing of a friend.

Update: I'm vindicated! :-) The guys announced in their next show that it WAS INDEED an April Fool's prank. Even so, I'll leave this entry, untouched, for posterity. Plus, most of the info is just as valuable to have shared, with them and with readers, whether they did or did not end the show. And like I said below, this gave them a chance like Twain and Nobel to see what folks thought when they thought they were dead. :-)

I also want to give some solace to fans of the show (and the general CFML community) with respect to where they may want to turn now to keep up on news, resources, etc. Fortunately, there are some places being actively updated. (And while surely some will see this as one more nail in CF's coffin, I don't and I'll address that briefly too.)

But first let's give credit where it's due about the podcast...

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Yet another way to keep up on the CF news of the week

Note: This blog post is from 2008. 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.
Thank you, Steve Bryant, for your CF_Blogpicks for the week, a series of weekly blog entries he started on Jan 7, highlighting what he feels are newsworthy blog entries that all CF developers ought to consider.

Last week I praised and highlighted Kay Smoljak's week in ColdFusion blog entries. Then last night I was perusing FullAsAGoog and noticed for the first time one of Steve's entries. What a delight to find that.(It's funny to note that he started his about the same time Kay did hers--funny how that goes.)

I recommend you keep an eye on Steve's list, too. He strives to pick 5 key entries a week that he feels most developers will benefit learning from. (I'm delighted to see he picked one of my entries this week, but really it's totally coincidental that I tripped across it this week while perusing the 'goog.)

Do we really need yet another source? I say yes

Now, some may say, "why do we need these additional resources? Aren't aggregators like the 'goog, MXNA, FeedSquirrel, and ColdFusionBloggers, all one needs? And what about the dzone cf page?"

Sure, those are all great. But here's the thing: Steve's been doing his news for a few weeks, and this is the first I'd seen it (same with Kay's last week). I'm sure many of us miss things that come through the aggregators. Most of us don't have time to read EVERY message they show--and then, which aggregator do you pick? While they mostly show the same things, with different approaches, some blogs aren't in all.

Most of all, I have to admit that I don't even have time to keep an eye on even any one aggregator each day, or really even each week. There's just too much content being created for most of us to stay on top of it all.

That's why I LOVE these attempts to do that hard work for us. Like I said last week of Kay's, and earlier this week about the various CF podcasts past and present (and future?), any sort of manual effort to gather and present key news and info shared is really a tough job, and my hats off to all who try.

I have some approaches in mind myself. One of them is similar to the dzone approach, and feedquirrel's recent addition to let the community of readers vote on entries. Those are both steps in the direction I was headed, though my idea is still different. We'll see. But until then, I want to make sure people know about these various features.

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