Last year's Readers' Choice Awards greatly exceeded our expectations. Over 13,000 votes were cast, many more than we imagined. What it proved to us here at CFDJ, and what it demonstrated to the industry as a whole, was the maturity of the ColdFusion industry. It also showed your devotion, as developers, to the products and companies that help you the most.

We've got some exciting news to share with you before you get into this information-packed issue of ColdFusion Developer's Journal. SYS-CON Media, the leading publisher of i-technology magazines and the parent company of CFDJ, recently aquired CF Advisor and has added it to its online stable of Web sites. No changes will be made to the Web site, which will continue in its role as an independent ColdFusion developer's resource. Complete with news, tips, feature articles, a job bank, training resources, a CF hosting guide, and discussion areas, CF Advisor is one of the leaders in the online world of ColdFusion development.

I'm writing this month's editorial myself, but if I wanted to stay true to the focus of the issue, I'd be writing it with a partner, or several. Collaboration is the name of the game in the world of ColdFusion, and in the magazine world as well. It's a team that produces CFDJ, and without them you wouldn't have a magazine. If it weren't for our fantastic team of writers, editorial staff, production designers, and advertising sales folks, we'd be nowhere. Without them you'd be lucky to receive a blank pile of pages each month. With them all, however, we put together a fantastic resource each month, one that we're quite proud of, and one that I hope you enjoy.

A few months ago I wrote an editorial in CFDJ (Vol. 3, issue 1) about conferences in general, and what fantastic opportunities they were for learning and networking. I spoke with many readers after that piece (at conferences of course!) and all agreed with that sentiment. Many of our readers regularly attend i-technology conferences to stay on top of their game, but if you don't - worry not. Now is as good a time as any to start!

When Spectra was first released, CFDJ devoted a lot of editorial space to it. To say the least, we didn't receive the most positive feedback to articles on software that ran on top of ColdFusion, required an additional expenditure, and at first didn't fit into many people's development plans. Due to this response, we scaled back our coverage. As time went on, however, the trend started to turn, and we began receiving letters saying the opposite - asking us for more information on Spectra. In response to that is this month's focus issue.

A big part of the lifeblood of a good programming language is its ability to be expanded and built upon by its user community. Java, perhaps the hottest programming language of our day, certainly has this ability, along with many other languages. And CFML is certainly no exception. Extending the language, and sharing code and swappable components, helps foster the one thing all languages strive for - a living, active user community.

Some of the most interesting news to hit the ColdFusion world in recent memory is the January 16th announcement that Macromedia and Allaire are to merge into a new, larger-than-life Macromedia. The goal of the combined company is to take the best of what each company brings to the table and create one big company that allows its customers to create and develop a Web site - both the design and the application (and everything in between) - from start to finish. They see themselves as a one-stop Web development shop; looking at the combined product list you can see why. The new Macromedia isn't going to stop with just developing for the Web. They're jumping on the wireless bandwagon as well and looking for initiatives to unite development on all of today's wireless devices, from PDAs to cell phones. They want to 'deliver everything everywhere,' which is certainly a noble goal that, if achieved, will make a CF developer's life just a little bit easier.

This editorial has been written in a way unlike any article you've ever read in this magazine. As a testament to the focus of this issue - 'ColdFusion and Wireless' - I'm typing it (albeit painstakingly so) on my RIM Blackberry 957. Three sentences in, I can tell you that it's by no means the easiest way to type out 700 or so words, and it's not something I'd recommend (later note: neither would my thumbs!) to other writers. But the bottom line is that it's doable, and although it might not be the best way, it's there and the technology behind it is being developed and clamored for like nothing before.

For those of you not keeping track, I wrote an editorial last April about finding a CF hosting company and promised more information the following month. As you may have noticed, it never came. Why? Because when I outlined Part 2, I realized I could easily write Part 3, Part 4, and so on, because it's such a large topic, with many different angles and countless points to consider.

The application server market is red-hot with vendors, open-source software developers, and application-service providers competing to be the platform for business Internet solutions. Businesses, better educated about the relationship between technology and their bottom line, are again looking at technology investments as they would any other...money matters.

I was unfortunately unable to make the Allaire Developer Conference in Boston last year, so I was extremely excited when I found my schedule free and clear for this year's event in Washington, DC. The conference was expanded from last year's, offering longer technical sessions and extending the overall length of the conference as well. Also of note this year was that attendees could take the new ColdFusion Certification Exam in one of several testing rooms on all of the conference days. Well hyped by Allaire to be a sellout for the second year in a row, the conference had me flying into town with high expectations. The question was whether it could live up to all the hype. The answer is a resounding Yes!

The first annual CFDJ Readers' Choice Awards are filled with lots of surprises. Overall, they paint a clear picture of the industry and what you - the reader - like and dislike. Modeled after the extremely successful Java Developer's Journal awards (one of CFDJ's sister publications), the established model proved to work quite well here. (How could it not? The whole system runs off ColdFusion!) Awards are being presented at the Allaire Developer Conference, November 5-8, in Washington, DC. They are presented in 13 categories: Best Book, Best Consulting Service, Best Custom Tag, Best Database Tool, Best Design Service, Best e-Business Software, Best Education and Training, Best Testing Tool, Best Web Development Tool, Best Web Hosting, Best Web Site, Best Web Application, and Most Innovative CF Application. For full coverage of the awards ceremony, including photos of the presentation, please visit www.coldfusionjourn al.com.

Wireless technologies are everywhere these days. I can't walk down the street for more than five minutes without seeing a cell phone, pager or Palm Pilot in use. And I'm seeing more of them every day. Wireless technologies are also being seen in the world of CF, which is being used more often each day to serve up data to WAP devices. Several articles about wireless technology have appeared in recent issues of CFDJ, and the feedback has been quite positive. Everyone who's written in has clamored for more coverage of this emerging market, and as we've been planning the content for the next several issues, we've taken that into consideration. I think you'll be pleased.

Men at some times are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. —Julius Caesar, Act 1: Scene 2

Allaire – or should I say '(Nasdaq: ALLR)'? – continues to rise. For those of you that don't follow the stock market, Allaire Corporation recently reported record financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2000. Revenue was $33.3 million, an increase of 155% over the revenue of $13.1 million for the same period in 1999, and an increase of 25% over the revenue of $26.6 million for the quarter ending March 31, 2000.

Living on Internet time proves more and more interesting every day. Sometimes it seems the online world is moving so fast that were I to sleep late one day, I might wake up and find that I'd missed an entire revolution - or at the very least another 'correction' to the stock market before which I ought to have sold!

One of ColdFusion's long-standing advantages over other Web development environments is time-to-market. It's not uncommon to hear stories of start-to-finish ColdFusion projects that take less than a month...or even a week. But these ultratight schedules allow little or no time for proper planning and testing prior to launch.

That's the latest buzzword in the ColdFusion industry today, and by the looks of it you'll soon be hearing it a lot more - so now's the time to prepare. As I'm sure most of you have already read in the past few issues of CFDJ - in articles by Ben Forta and an interview by Ajit Sagar with Jeremy Allaire - ColdFusion is headed onto the Java train...and for Allaire it's full speed ahead.

A few weeks ago I traveled abroad and visited London for the first time. Upon arrival I followed the hordes of passengers through the long, winding corridors of Gatwick Airport's International Arrivals terminal. With signs pointing the way and chirpy airport officials ushering us along, I couldn't help but feel like a sheep. Finally we - and about eight other flights - arrived at Immigration. The immigration officials were moving rather fast, stamping passports and welcoming people to glorious England as fast as they arrived. When my turn came I wasn't quite as lucky. I'm not sure whether I 'looked like a terrorist' or what (I think seven hours on a plane can do that), but I was peppered with questions about the reasons for my trip (vacation), where I was staying, and so on and so forth.

Last month I promised to discuss the pros and cons of hosting a ColdFusion site in-house versus out of house in this month's editorial. But in light of some recent news and exciting additions to the world of CFDJ, that editorial has been bumped to next month. I don't think anyone will miss it, though, as I've got some better stuff to write about.

From time to time we receive e-mails from CFDJ readers, sent by beginners and advanced developers alike, asking us what we think about a particular hosting company or seeking our opinion as to what a 'first-time' developer should be looking for in terms of offered features and pricing, who's the best, who's the cheapest and so on.

It was a bright, sunny day when, after years of construction, Disneyland opened in California in 1955, proclaiming itself the theme park of the future. Unfortunately, as good as it all looked, the park wasn't quite as ready for the hordes of visitors as it thought it was. On opening day almost all of the rides broke down...there were too few trashcans, causing overflows of garbage...the lines were far too long...and not enough water fountains were operating. To compound the situation, thousands of counterfeit invitations had been distributed, so the park was overloaded with many more visitors than it could handle. Because of this, the roads leading to Disneyland were jammed with bumper-to-bumper cars filled with some very cranky passengers. It was by no means a good beginning. Lucky for them, things seem to have turned out quite well today.

The life of a Web developer is never boring. Technology shifts so quickly that we refer to 'Internet years' the same way we refer to 'dog years.' We're constantly bombarded with new buzzwords. It's a full-time job just keeping track of what they mean, much less knowing how to integrate them into development.

0kay, that title might be considered about two months late by some, but please read on. For some people the most wonderful time of the year falls in the holiday season when friends, family and - best of all - presents surround them. For ColdFusion developers, though, this time of the year is proving to be much more exciting and it's just getting started. So far we've got the release of ColdFusion 4.5 - already with it's first little bug patch released, which is definitely a rite of passage for many new products these days. Some of the most anticipated products are Allaire Spectra, which has already shipped, and ColdFusion for Linux, which is in its final beta stages and will soon be out. If the beta is any indication of what's to come, all those people who are anti-NT will soon be very happy. These new product releases from Allaire and others are just one indication of what's happening in the industry.

Somewhere in my life, apart from being editor-in-chief of CFDJ and running the Web Services Department at SYS-CON Publications, I have a bit of spare time during which I work on a few other Web sites. One of them is the official site for entertainer Michael Crawford (the original Phantom of the Opera). Recently I was called on to develop a new, secure Web board, online directory, and conferencing and messaging system for members of the site to use, along with a secure, unique logon for each of them.

When I first began my outline for this month's editorial, I realized I couldn't possibly fit everything in. With topics ranging from the excitement of the Allaire Conference, whose phenomenal success and fast sellout is a testament to the growing success of ColdFusion, to the amazing articles in this month's issue, there was a lot to cover. However, I'll do my best to touch on each one.

In 1523 Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizzaro conquered the Inca army and captured the emperor, Atahuallapa, effectively securing the conquest of the entire Inca Empire in a single battle. Remarkably, Pizzaro won the battle with a ragtag team of 168 Spanish soldiers on foreign soil against the 80,000-man Inca army. Pizzaro's astounding victory wasn't the result of a particularly strong military strategy (or moral character).

I was first introduced to ColdFusion almost three years ago when one of the programmers in SYS-CON's Web Services Department suggested we implement it in a few different places on one of our Web sites. As the department manager I said, 'Sure, sounds good...By the way, what the heck is it?' For the first six months I regretted the 'Sure' part immensely. I still knew almost nothing about the workings of ColdFusion or its potential; all I knew was that the programmer somehow managed to keep crashing our server and the Web site was down almost as much as it was up. Thankfully-for the Web site visitors and for me-ColdFusion and my knowledge of it have come a long way since then.

On June 15 Allaire announced that it intended to acquire Live Software, makers of JRun, the leading server-side Java development and deployment server. With this acquisition Allaire also announced a broader strategy for embracing Java on the server, extending its leading Web application platform with a huge customer base and technology platform, and setting the stage for an integrated application server platform that combines the dominant tag-based rapid development model (CFML) with the dominant server-side object-oriented system programming language, Java. These perfect cousins will form a critical foundation for the Allaire platform.

I spent a week in San Francisco at Sun Microsystem's JavaOne show. Quite an interesting, exciting show! Personally, I spent most of my days there interviewing many of the movers and shakers of the Java industry. This was all very cool, but I missed having my usual interaction with ColdFusion developers.

Over the past three years as an Allaire partner, I have been involved in countless marketing presentations where I touted ColdFusion as the best solution for producing Web-based applications. During this time other product vendors, instead of selling against CF based on feature comparisons, have instead focused on peripheral issues. Throughout the CF 2.0 product cycle, I would routinely be questioned about Allaire's staying power in the market, financial performance and capital inflows. Allaire's rapidly expanding market share and IPO silenced those critics. During the CF 3.x product cycle, our competitors shifted to attack CF as an unsuitable product for the enterprise, questioning whether it could 'scale' to support an unlimited number of concurrent users.

Every year I find myself contemplating the dramatic changes in the Internet industry over the previous year. And every year the changes seem more dramatic, more exciting - and, most important, clearer. Everyone involved in the Internet industry does the same thing, I'm sure, and as part of this ongoing reflection we try and find meaning in a few major concepts to help us grapple with all the change and opportunity. These concepts typically end up in buzzwords that we internalize and then attempt to indoctrinate our peers (and customers) with this new understanding.

ColdFusion is touted as a robust e-commerce tool, and this is the truth, but as we're all seeing within these pages, there's much more than that to ColdFusion. Ben Forta's excellent article on fine-tuning your database cache is a good example of this. We've continued our coverage of ColdFusion 4.0 with an article on developer enhancements by Charles Arehart (there's even a hint or two about Allaire's ColdFusion beta, 4.01!). And Jeremy Allaire has followed up his prophetic editorial in the premier issue with an editorial about new business models on the Web.

Growth in Internet commerce continues to fuel an adoption frenzy of Web technologies. The benefits of moving a business to the Web seem clear, but only a few can truly claim that they're building sustainable, long-term businesses.

Sometimes simple technologies combine in ways that create massive innovation and opportunity. The Web itself is a modern example. Formed as a simple request/response document delivery mechanism, the core technologies of the Web -- HTML and HTTP -- central to a broad computing platform shift. It's because these technologies were so simple and accessible that the Web exploded the way it did.