Online support can be purchased for $995, premium support (which adds telephone support, a faster response time and an additional named support contact) can be purchased for $4,995 per year with an option for 24/7 pager support at an extra $2,495 per year.
It was even in version 4, people were asking this functionality and despite many requests the functionality was not added. Once New Atlanta implemented it, MM followed. Maybe it is coincidence but I found it very strange too see the step MM made once there was a competitor.
Long awaited functionality also included image manipulation.
I think many people disagree, but I personally found New Atlanta being the initiator of the sourceless deployment step.
One thing to remember: Platform matters!
One page to read: http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/j2ee_dotnet.cfm
This may not reflect your needs, but it does for countless others.
Regards, Dan
MACR: Their niche will be integrating features around their other exclusive products. Look at Flash forms, CF Report Builder, etc. As MACR grows their server line, CFMX will undoubtedly look to take advantage of these neat features.
DRAGON: Their niche is platform flexibility, plain and simple. A HUGE advantage over CFMX, your CFML can run in a .NET environment. If this a requirement of your business, it's an option that MM can't offer.
My guess is that new CFML customers will usually pick CFMX over BD, except in the instances where .NET interop is a requirement.
I hope that everyone who is in position to purchase a CFML server/engine, would give BlueDragon a chance first.
Those of us who are on CF5 should DEFINATELY look at Blue Dragon... as Macromedia shafted all of us on the upgrade option. I've been a licensed user of ColdFusion since 3.1 - and do own a licensed copy of CF5... but Macromedia decided that myself, and all the other CF5 users should have to pay the full price for CF7.
Some might say, "well, you didn't upgrade to MX," - and to that I'd say, we'll why didn't Macromedia give me a some form of upgrade path to CF7? Instead, Macromedia no longer considers me a customer and expects me to pay full price. I've paid for the product and 2 upgrades already - why should I have to shell out another $1,300 for the new version? The Upgrade is 1/2 the cost... so why didn't they offer an upgrade to CF5 owners that was 2/3 the cost? Makes sense to me - obviously it didn't to the executives, sales and marketing team a MM.
Breathe in... now exhale...
I'm so grateful for New Atalanta! The BlueDragon team is unlike anything I've bumped into when it comes to customer relations. Both Charlie Arehart and Vince Bonfanti participate in their mailing list - bugs are taken care of - questions answered - human brains ticking away to a beat.
For example... a few weeks ago... I had some feedback and questions for Charlie... a day or so later, he and I were on the phone - it was great :) And I'm just some developer on the list.
It's my goal to tell every CF developer about Blue Dragon, and I hope that more and more people choose to support New Atlanta in their push into the market, especially anyone still on CF5.
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BTW - there is also a free version of the BlueDragon server - but if you think you'd want the JX version, just grab that - after the trial period, it will drop down to the 'free server' version.
And if you are interested in bundling your own application w/ a CFML server/engine... then yes, you should start looking into BlueDragon.
And no... they don't pay me to say this stuff :) But if Charlie or Vince wish to send a copy of the JX server, I'd gladly accept :)
cheers guys! If anything... thank goodness for competition!
I believe that MM was planning on delivering the sourceless deployment with MX 6.0 but for some reason didn't (I recall Ben talking about that way back then). That they delivered it in the next major release is no surprise and probably isn't related to NewAtlanta at all.
