I just can't believe there is no official documentation on this issue. If you ever tried to install ColdFusion MX7 on a Windows 2003 Server with sp1 pre installed, your ColdFusion will not install properly.

I just tried to install it over 20-30 times, changing settings, nt security, firewall, web server, jrun, man .. everything! I tried to install it on an AMD 64 bit CPU running Windows 2003 Server. The 64 bit threw me off, and I almost returned it and ordered a new system... the strange fact is that I have other AMD 64bits running ...

Regardless of the installation type, standalone, multiserver, using the built-in web server, iis, or apache, it will always finish the install with errors. If you look at the logs you will see 2 or 3 non-fatal errors:

ERROR - jrun.xmljava.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\JRun4\tmpmove.bat (Access is denied)

or

ERROR - jrun.xmljava.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\CFusionMX7\tmpmove.bat (Access is denied)

Web Server Connector Configuration Error
Status: ERROR
Additional Notes: ERROR - JNDI port 2902 for server cfusion is not active

The last one I don't have the exact error, but it was something along the line of cannot find C:\CFUsionMX7\lib

Missing the entire /lib folder does not look so 'non-fatal' to me. Anyways, ColdFusion would not start. After trying everything known to man, I even tried to copy the /lib folder from another server.... nada, nothing.

I found two solutions to this problem:
1) Reinstall sp1 on top of the pre-installed sp1.
2) A little easier, and I still don't know why this works, install CF with the silent mode. Run the CF install file from a command line (DOS box) with "-f silent.properties" and it will take 2 mins to install. Silent.properties is a file that you must create using a text editor. See this technote for details.

I installed it silently with the built-in server, and then manually attached the IIS connectors. It also installed the Report Builder, I guess it's part of the silent install... so I removed it after it was done. I kept a copy of the silent.properties if anyone needs it, but it's close to the template provided in the technote.

Adobe should document this issue! Next time you're installing CFMX7 on a W2k3 box, remember this post, it may save you days.

A few days ago, I posted an entry asking why is Adobe entering the Ajax world? I just found this entry where Kevin explains the main idea.

You have to be pretty good at knowing code to use the frameworks. So what we worked on here [in Spry] is how can we get designers more involved in Ajax?
Kevin Lynch
Chief Software Architect, Adobe Systems Inc.

The idea seems to be that Adobe wants to reach designers, not developers. Kevin claims that a designer can use this framework and implement Ajax sites / widgets, thus enhancing the user experience without coding. The Spry framework allows you to retrieve remote dynamic data by using a data binding mechanism, to which some Flash developers are familiar. This approach doesn't fully exploit the advantages of Ajax, and I'm not sure if it even provides any. Can someone think of how a designer could use this framework and why should he even care? I'm not trying to discourage Adobe, this _may_ be a great idea, but I'm blind. I guess I'll have to wait and see how a designer takes advantage of it and show me how Ajax makes him stand above the competition ...

Does anyone have a different point of view?

I just listed a bunch of Ajax frameworks, libraries, and toolkits ... I just realized I need to go back a step... what is the difference among them? These are the differences how I see them; it's not an official definition, but just explaining the differences in simple words.

Library: consists only of a series of functions.
example: Dojo, prototype, script.aculo.us

Framework: library plus methodology, event or process management, and other utilities that facilitates writing a program.
example: Fusebox, Model Glue, Mach II

Toolkit: framework plus an IDE. It's a complete solution for your needs.
example: Microsoft Atlas, Ticbo GI, Zimbra AT.


So anyways, Adobe is developing their version of an Ajax Library called Spry. Ray Camden seems to like it. I haven't tried it yet, but I will sometime this upcoming week. Not sure why Adobe is even interested in getting in this game, unless they have some big plans of taking this library and allowing for creating Ajax pages with server side calls through ColdFusion ... I'll post more on this soon.

The buzzwords du jour are AJAX, RIA, Web 2.0 ... Both Adobe and Microsoft are involved and trying their best to get market share. Abode has Flash and Flex; and AJAX is compatible with every programming language and plays really well with CF (through ajaxCFC :) ).

Microsoft has been working on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), previously called Avalon. This presentation layer takes an xml based declarative language called XAML (pronounced zammel), that stands for eXtensible Application Markup Language.

I knew about XAML, but the interesting part is that Microsoft went big! They are also releasing a full development application set called expression. The community technology preview just came out and it looks like a take on Abobe's Creative Suite.

I suspect what unlike XUL (pronounced zul), which is Mozilla's xml declarative language, XAML will penetrate the market thanks to Microsoft's big name. It should natively work with the .NET framework and we should soon also see a version for Mac, even though Microsoft will no longer support their IE for Macs.

If you are a new developer and want to be ahead of the game, keep an eye on Flex 2.0 and XAML. There are other technologies such as laslo, xul, ror, bindows, backspace, and dojo, that should not be overlooked either.

1. RIA (Rich Internet Applications) growth: We will start seeing more and more sites using AJAX, XAML, and Flex 2.0. With the release of XAML and Windows Vista, .NET Ajax sites will start becoming more popular. Adobe's (formally Macromedia) Flex 2.0 builder will allow non-flash savvy programmers to build full Flash RIA’s using nothing but declarative XML syntax. XUL will slowly fade away. RoR will attract php programmers, but will not find its way to the Java, .Net, or CF community.

2. AJAX Platforms IDE’s will arise, making building user interface components with back-end integration through AJAX achievable without having to program with core frameworks. This new software will do for AJAX exactly what Flex 2.0 is doing for flash: allowing visual authoring capabilities by using new IDE’s, or by building plug-ins for existing IDE’s such as Eclipse.

3. With quick growth of SOA, Web Services, and Remote Calls, data security will start becoming an issue. A greater effort will be devoted towards encryption, authentication, and authorization.

4. Blogging will continue to rise, but as it does, a new, smarter filtering mechanism will have to be developed. Corporate IQ cannot depend strictly on tagging and aggregators. Probability based algorithms will analyze the personal relevance of every post.

5. Mobile applications will start getting popular. AJAX for mobiles and Flash Lite will start hiring to build full mobile RIA’s.

6. Some 25-year-old kid will become millionaire after coming up with a way for search engines to RELIABLY index AJAX and Flash applications.

7. By the end of the year, Wi-Max will start becoming available in mayor cities, threatening ISP’s and cellular phone providers. VoIP wireless devices will slowly replace cell phones, providing more reliable, less expensive, and more sophisticated capabilities. Blackberries will loose market share.

8. VoIP, IMS, SIP, XMPP, and SOA will continue to grow. Web 2.0 and VoIP 2.0 will merge. Unified messaging will get more popular among corporations.

9. People will continue paying premium for self-service and software applications will loose market share to shared services.

Incredible, Adobe’s profit jumped 38% this quarter, but yet, Chief Financial Officer Murray Demo resigned today to spend more time with his family and a search for his replacement had begun; on a side note, after acquiring Macromedia, Adobe is laying off about 10% of their personnel, equivalent to about 650 or 700 jobs.

I’m not into stocks, but it’s expected that the revenue will continue to grow about 30% for Q1 2006.