Ben Forta For President? - Muse's 2008 Predictions.
Every pundit has predictions this time of year - so a CF Pundit should be no Exception. Even though I have no track record, no skill at prediction (as my record in the "bowl pick-em" contest around our office can attest) and no technical reason to do it, I have decided to offer up my predictions for 2008 just the same.
Adobe Will be Bought by Someone Else
This is more of a pattern than a prediction. Whoever happens to own Coldfusion is purchased by someone every 2 or three years - so I figure I'm on solid ground. Maybe Microsoft will buy Adobe. Then it can trump PDF with it's new document format called the "Portable Universal Tome Zip" document (soon to be known as the .putz file). Or perhaps Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohen will buy a controlling share together in the mistaken belief that a "Flash Player" is something else entirely.
Coldfusion Will Once Again be Rumored to Be at Death's Door While Posting Record Sales
Apparently Chicken Little grew up to be a prolific evangelist - preaching mostly to web programmers. Enough already!
Linux Will Once Again Fail to Gain Traction in the Desktop Wars
Sad but true - not much of a prediction really. In spite of all those wonderful super-geeks out there working in v-edit and emacs decrying the beauty of a telnet prompt and constantly explaining how easy it is to unwrap a tar ball with a single command and thirteen hundred switches - folks will still be buying something other than Linux for a desktop computer. I think the next Linux distro should be nicknamed "Cubs" (sorry guys - maybe next year).
Apple Will continue to Make Eye catching Over Priced Hardware While Corporate America Continues to Work Largely on PCs
I know this hurts. Apple makes some killer stuff. Those of us in the Web field have an affinity for Apple. But the majority of computers are not bought by artsy guys in berets who muse for hours over the whimsy of a particular hue of purple (it has so much energy!). Corporate America will continue to invest heavily in PC and Microsoft technology - much to the chagrin of all those Apple Lovers/MS Haters. Of course the Apple Lovers/MS Haters will continue to go to work and earn paychecks using technology hosted largely on PCs and using largely MS software - but they have found a way to live with themselves (Good for you! You go girl!).
Web Standards Will Continue to Be Widely Touted and Sparsely Followed
Has it occurred to anyone else that the exact day that a standard is published it is immediately corrupted by vendors with their own version? Unless capitalism dies a sudden and unexpected death I think this situation is unlikely to change. Since we make most of our money on helping our customers navigate the complexity of the internet world I must say... "Viva La Difference!"
Ben Forta Will Be Elected President
In a surprise move the Democratic and Republican party will both nominate Ben Forta as their candidate of choice. A spokesman for the joint nomination will say something like, "We know he has no experience and we know he's kind of geeky... but as the man voted 'Most likely to be right about everything' we want him leading the free world". Surprising no one, Ben will immediately appoint Ray Camden as Vice President and Charlie Areheart as Secretary of State. His nomination of Sean Corfield as Attorney General will fail when it is revealed that Sean raises cats (congress is weighted toward dog lovers).
The Muse Will Enter Phase III
To refresh your memory, Phase I was learning Coldfusion and making it my living. Phase II was learning to be a Company President and manage a staff of 12. I'm not sure what stage III is but I'm sure I will be equally unprepared for it. Maybe it involves golfing 3 times a week and hob-knobbing with old geezers.
Seriously
In all seriousness, 2007 was a challenging year - but a good year for me. My family has grown and prospered. The kids are doing well in school and my daughter has owned her car now for 3 months without an accident (fingers crossed). My wife Ann is as energetic and lovely as ever. From a professional perspective, our business is growing. When you start out you have expectations for "what it will be like" when your business reaches a certain size. Most of the expectations revolve around some things getting easier... things like financial pressures, management tasks, and long hours. When you finally "arrive" it turns out these things are still there - and there is more of them. The reality has been that I am learning on the job how to manage a larger staff and a larger business. In many ways I am still figuring out what my role is within my own company. Thankfully I have been blessed with a staff of excellent and dedicated professionals who are invested in the success of CF Webtools. Among them are Jason Herbolsheimer, Mike Klostermeyer, Ryan Stille and Jake Churchill. All of the CF Webtools family work hard and make contributions to its success - but these 4 outstanding men keep me grounded and moving forward. My life would be poorer without them.
What will 2008 hold? I don't know exactly. Here are some of my professional goals - both personal and company wide.
- I would like to write and speak more than I did in 2007. I am going to do a workshop on SQL Tips and Optimization at the Web Maniacs conference in May. That's a new conference for me.
- I was privileged to direct our church choir a few times this year. I would love to continue to do that on a part-time basis.
- I want to resurrect the Coldfusion Muse Podcast with a new feel. Perhaps as a digest of the last 4 or 5 posts.
- We (CF Webtools) would like to grow to a staff of 17 or 18 by years end.
- We want to see the CHRID project take off and expand in California beyond the 4 or 5 cities that are currently using it. We would like to add 10 hosted installations of CHRID by years end. CHRID is an inventory management and document system for handling federal and state requirements surrounding cultural and historical resources. It is used by city planning departments to do surveys and file forms.
- We want to add an additional 50 Farcry sites beyond the 30 that we added in 2007.
- We would like to see more expansion in Europe and Canada beyond the 3 or 4 customers we have there now.
- We would like to polish and release our internal project management system as a hosted solution for consultants.
- We want to expand employee benefits to include profit sharing.
- We want to participate more fully in the CF community through blogging, email lists, and personal interaction.
- We want to further develop our idea of a Mentoring Company.
7 Comments
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Woohoo, VP! All the credit, none of the work. Does this mean I get to go duck hunting and shoot someone? Or spend most of my time in an "undisclosed location"? -
@Ray
Not only will you be able to shoot someone in the face (-- IN THE FACE!!!) but, by precedent, they must then apologize to _you_! -
Unfortunately, the President doesn't appoint the VP. It'd have to be a Forta/Camden 2008 ticket. It would do well initially, but as soon as the Republicans learn that Ray's not obsessed with a missile defense system, but instead the *other* Star Wars ... That, coupled with the eventual, inevitable leak of the Scorpio-Man photos, might doom their chances. -
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I realize I'm a few months late, but yes, if nominated, it would be an honor to serve on this esteemed staff, as Secretary of State. Thanks for the nomination, Mark. :-)
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