RIP DevNet
by Ryan Hartwich
If you are one of the few Macromedia DevNet subscribers, you hopefully received an email this week from Macromedia concerning DevNet's demise. Of course, rumor has it that these emails were never received or are being
confused with the repeated emails for renewing that some have found in their spam folders.
For those of you non-subscribers, DevNet was a yearly subscription service that offered you a portal to download a full license of Studio and full developer versions of most Macromedia server products. Throw in 4 quarterly resource kits (DRKs) and you had a very economical method for developers and employers to buy a bundle of server class unlimited IP accessible development tools. For designers, the DRKs and server licenses were nice add-on toys, but for developers, the server licenses were critically important and well worth the price... with Studio a nice extra.
"...To ensure that we are best meeting the needs of our customers," Macromedia has decided to discontinue offering new subscriptions and will be phasing the existing ones out in the next year. The immediate impact is that subscribers whose terms have expired will lose their ability to renew.
In October the last of 13 DRKs will be published (they were briefly offered
for sale individually, 90 days after being made available to subscribers).
Long term, Macromedia is pushing subscribers to "purchase a new subscription
in the Macromedia Volume License Program." Examination of the MVLP program will show you that the base price for Studio & Contribute through the MVLP program is cheaper (and has a longer subscription term) than the DevNet. Unfortunately, the DRKs aren't available, and as some of you will be sad to
see, the developer licenses for server products like ColdFusion are not
available.
How does this affect you? For designers, the loss of DRKs may be minimal. (While many look forward to them, most would agree the quality has tapered off and their value is questionable.) For ColdFusion developers, the loss of the server licenses can be extreme. If you have a full time job and create web sites on the side, you could buy a subscription, load up the servers on your home machine and have a great way to develop and prototype websites for clients. When your client buys off on their $500 site by logging in to your home machine, you FTP the files to their ISP and send a bill. No need to
worry about the limited number of IP addresses that can connect to a 'trial' version of ColdFusion and hence limit your ability to demonstrate the site (particularly if you have 2-4 machines at home).
Per MM's subscription FAQ: "Please note, these developer editions are different than the development-only licenses included in DevNet. The developer editions will contain restrictions to the number of IP addresses
that can access them. If you need a fully functional, unrestricted server for development or testing, you will need to purchase a full version of the server software."
In other words, individuals and small offices who were using unrestricted 'developer' versions of server software for internal development will no longer be able to. They will be limited to either a few connections (by unique IP number) or will have to buy the software to develop on. (FYI,
United States pricing on ColdFusion starts at $1300).
One would get the impression from Macromedia's publicly posted information that the demise of DevNet will not affect many people and that the MVLP program is comparable in price and functionality. A quick read of a number
of public and private ColdFusion-centric sites will show that some of the more vocal subscribers are concerned. Should you be concerned? Your call. Do you
need unrestricted server software for development? Do you need the functionality of DRKs and can't get the tags and programs from alternative sites (MM's Exchange, blogs, etc.)? Are you short on cash and don't want to hassle wading through convoluted BVLO acronyms on the MVLP pages of Macromedia's site?
Your call. Start your reading here:
Devnet Subscription Page
Devnet FAQ
Macromedia Volume License Program
