Pricing for BlueDragon.NET 7.0 Standard Edition - $1999/server
Newly released on Vince B's blog, BlueDragon.net 7 pricing. For a long time, the Blue Dragon product had the reputation as being the "Cheaper" cousin of ColdFusion, but no longer.
I don't currently have pricing for Scorpio in front of me, but it seems as if BlueDragon now has the reputation for being the "More Expensive" cousin of ColdFusion.
I, for one, appreciate New Atlanta in the CFML engine marketplace. The competition has been good for the state of the art, if perhaps not for the profits of Adobe nee Macromedia. New Atlanta has several 'firsts', one being cfthread, another being cfinterface.
With that said, the last time I had a decision about which CFML engine to use, I went with ColdFusion Enterprise. I felt the price justified the expense because ColdFusion is the Gold Standard for CFML engines and CF Enterprise and BD enterprise are priced equal. I specifically avoided using the BlueDragon product line because of certain incompatibilities with popular CF Frameworks. Even at a lower costs, the issues and limitations were too much of a negative.
I understand some CFFrameworks vs. BlueDragon issues are resolved. In fact, Peter Farrell announced on a recent cfweekly podcast that he was able to use MachII 1.5 and the ColdSpring BER on top of BlueDragon.
Still, one has to wonder if the 2k entry price for BD Standard is on the mark. It is certainly ~800 more than CF Standard. Of course, I am a lowly programmer and I don't have bastions of Market Research professionals scouring the market with surveys and the like. Nor do I have years of experience developing boxed commercial software like Vince B. and co. ( If you don't already know, Vince has been behind some very successful and innovative products in his time.)
Will there still be a 'free' BlueDragon product? Will hosting companies provide BlueDragon on their CFML hosting plans? Will Adobe counter will a Hosting Specific version allowing cheaper hosting prices? Stay Tuned to the War of the CFML engines.....
Update 1: The reporting above is slanted and inaccurate, like most of my postings. There are some good comments below adding balance. My biggest error was in failing to differentiate between BlueDragon.Net, and the other products in the New Atlanta Stable. Have a look at the Product Matrix. Also Vince B. states "Finally, yes, there will continue to be a free BlueDragon edition--we have no plans to change this. Pricing of the Java-based editions in the BlueDragon Product line remain unchanged." I did not know this and it is certainly good news for the many using BD. Have a read through the comments for a more balanced perspective.
http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/prod...
If you look at New Atlanta's Server JX version, the prices is considerably cheaper.
BlueDragon.NET Standard is not priced relative to CFMX Standard, but is priced relative to BlueDragon.NET Enterprise. That is, we've had a lot of people evaluate BlueDragon.NET over the past two years and tell us they really like it, but that there are some applications for which the Enterprise price ($2999/CPU) is just too high. It was from discussions with these prospects/customers that we came up with pricing for BlueDragon.NET Standard.
It's unfortunate that BlueDragon developed an early reputation as a "cheaper" alternative to CFMX. I addressed this in a blog entry a few months ago, but apparently first perceptions still linger:
http://blog.newatlanta.com/index.cfm?mode=entry&am...
The simple fact is that in discussions with countless BlueDragon prospects and customers over the years, price has rarely been a factor in the decision of choosing BlueDragon or CFMX.
As for our business, it's doing fine. As I've mentioned elsewhere, 2006 was a record year for BlueDragon revenue and profits, and I expect 2007 to be even better. This pricing change for BlueDragon.NET was made in direct response to feedback from our prospects and customers, and is intended to feed the growth and success that we've enjoyed with BlueDragon over the past five years. We don't view this as a "War of the CFML Engines," but as a way of serving our customers better--this change is pro-BlueDragon, not anti-CFMX.
Finally, yes, there will continue to be a free BlueDragon edition--we have no plans to change this. Pricing of the Java-based editions in the BlueDragon Product line remain unchanged.
Regards,
Vince Bonfanti