| James Voss 2005-11-29, 8:45 pm |
| ryanm,
This is something I completely agree with you on. I am VERY, let me say that again, VERY concerned about what happens to this product when Adobe
takes over full control. Having a CAB and some kind of agreeable pricing plan in 90 days or so is one thing (as I said before, it's a start), but I would sure feel
MUCH better if we could get some solid assurances about the long term plans for FCS/FMS. Macromedia and Adobe are certainly large enough companies
to make a solid commitment to continued availability of an existing product that has such intense interest in it on the part of the development community.
Furthermore, I feel that they can do so without divulging things that might jeaprodize their own business plans. Maybe we need to devise some way of
stating our position as a whole, aside and apart from the CAB. (i.e. independant coalition, petitions ... something )
I'm sure I am not alone in this but I have a lot of personal cash out of pocket and well over a year of fulltime work tied up in this project. Almost all of it based
on 'BLIND FAITH' that macromedia will (a) continue to keep the FCS product base in production and (b) that the pricing will be 'something that I can live
with' meaning specifically that my business plan won't have to be flushed just because Macromedia changed their business plans.
As developers, no matter how hard we try, we cannot completly decouple our business plans from every product in the mix. Defensive design will only take
us just so far, after that, our fate often hangs in the hands of the Gods. We can seldom enjoy the luxury of having multiple choices of development platforms
or development tools upon which to rely for alternate paths. Aside from the fact that constantly allowing for alternative approaches to a problem is probably
the single most difficult thing any developer can do, it is also god-awful expensive. Most of us don't have that kind of time or money.
I knew when I started this project, that I was out on a limb and that this sort of thing could happen. ( I've been thru similar situations so damned many times
over the years that you would think I would know better, but alas...If only there were a Dr. Phil for software guys...) I just hope that MM/Adobe come up
with something very solid, very soon. I need to either move to the next phase of my project or cut my loses (once again), go flush my business plan and
move on to something else.
It always amazes me how the guys in the ivory towers can sit back and marvel at how Open Source software has made such huge inroads into the
industry. Too bad there is no vaccine we could give corporate execs to help ward off 'chronic cranial rectitus' ... come to think of it, maybe I should be the
first in line for vaccination.
James Voss
On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:33:00 -0600, ryanm wrote:
> Something else that concerns me: what does Adobe plan to do with this
>platform after the 90 days? Macromedia can promise all they want about what
>they will do after the interim license expires, but it lacks any real weight
>because Macromedia will no longer exist at that time (or shortly
>thereafter). I guess the question is, is Adobe planning to stand behind all
>of this new (last minute) licensing?
> For Hank, I realize that information about the aquisition is sensitive
>and they cannot release any real data, but we could at least be getting some
>kind of feel-good noise from someone, either Adobe or Macromedia, to let us
>know that it's not just these two guys on the list making promise, and that
>FMS actually has a future beyond the next quarter.
>ryanm
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