ColdFusion For OSX. What Do You Think?

I think with OS X finally coming into its own as an enterprise OS and the sheer power of the XServe, the time is right for ColdFusion to be "officially" supported on the platform. If this means support at the bare minimum, I think that would be a step in the right direction. Just the fact that this is something being discussed shows that OS X is making progress moving into the enterprise environment.

I think a OSX installer would be great, especially for standalone installs. If you haven't noticed, lots of tech folks are moving to OS X, so making CF easy to develop on the platform should be a concern. I think the current install process for CF on Mac would scare all but a CF die hard, or OS X die hard. Which means Mac web developers may choose php instead. Have you noticed that lots of flash developers use php? Maybe they need an installer for CF on Mac? The survey is kind of focused on using Mac in production, or selling licensees for CF on OS X. Just keep in mind that even though you don't make money off the free developer version directly, you can make money off it indirectly. I don't host live web sites on my powerbook, but I do develop web sites on it, so lets make it easy for us developers, because that's what ColdFusion is all about!

Nope, sorry, discussion and survey are real. :-)

April Fools?

We need to figure that out, but at a minimum I'd say that it means a real installer (like the one we have for Windows) instead of having to play with J2EE deployment, it would also mean available support. Beyond that, well, that is what we want to hear. Lots of folk have been asking for OSX support, so they must want something.

Although official support sounds nice, I dont understand what we would gain. I personally have been doing cf development on the mac for a year and a half, and I know many others that have been doing it even longer. I am certainly not saying I dont think we need support, but I am curious what happens when Mac is a supported platform.

In an article in his PBS series "May the Source be With You", Robert X. Cringely says that Linux is a better choice for IT departments than Windows for many reasons, but that Macs would be an even better choice because "Macintoshes are comparable in performance to Windows or Linux machines. Whatever the conventional wisdom or the Microsoft marketing message, Macs aren't dramatically more expensive to buy and on a Total Cost of Ownership basis they are probably cheaper." He concludes that the main reason IT departments are still buying Linux machines instead of Macs is job security: "Macs reduce IT head count while Linux probably increases IT head count, simple as that." So my reason that Macromedia should support OSX – if they are going to stand for quality, they should finally get around to supporting the best platform available.

So does official support mean Coldfusion could be used in production on an Xserve? Or is it capable of that now? I develop and test on my Powerbook but deploy to a Windows server. But I feel like a fish out of water configuring in IIS and would much prefer serving from the Mac. What about Flash Remoting, Flash Communication Server and Flex Builder and Server...? Give an inch, .... :)

weve switched to mac on the desktop and would use coldfusion with osx.

The installation on OS X is discouraging at best, but Cold Fusion would make development on this platform so much easier. The only easy option now is PHP which I don't personally like. Design studios, most of which are Mac-based need an easy way to develop on the web ... especially small studios. It is a natural outgrowth of the existing business and could become much more profitable if it wasn't necessary to invest in another platform. Even if Macromedia would support an installer that configured the whole JRun, JVM,CF, JDBC mix ... it would be most appreciated!!!