March 22, 2010

What if I don't care for Flex Builder?

"Everyone" point out how $299 for CFB is a good deal because you get Flex Builder bundled. But what if I don't care for Flex? Is it still a good deal?

Flex Builder Standard costs $249 and CFB+FB $299. What is a real idea behind this? To promote CFB among Flex developers? Honestly, I see this as a better deal for Flex developers, who really needs an IDE for rapid development, then it is for CF developers (only).

Me, as CF developer, don't see this as a good opportunity at all. Opposite. 83% of money I'll pay, actually goes to something I won't use.

On the other hand, by supporting this project, we keep doors open for version 2 one day. And when that day come, I hope that CFB will be sufficient argument for itself to have decent sale.

Update:

Simple math:
Flash Builder 4 Standard (stand alone) - $249
CF Builder 1.0 w/ Flash Builder 4 Standard included - $299
--------------------------------------------------------------
-> CF Builder 1.0 costs $50

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11 comments:

Unknown said...

I wonder how Adobe will measure CF Builder sales, as opposed to sales to developers who just wanted Flash Builder but thought the extra $50 was worth it for the CFML support?

I too would have expected to see CF Builder as an option by itself at a slightly cheaper price point. Adobe clearly have their reasons though :P

Unknown said...

Not sure about sales numbers. I just hope they won't measure it the way they did CF8 vs CF9 performance difference and come up with number of 10K% Kidding :)
I am sure there is some "statistical voodoo" that will help them with that.
This bundle just left an impression to me that I believe in CFB more then Adobe does.

Jason Dean said...

83% of the money you spend is on something you won't use?

So you think that if CFBuilder was sold on it's own that it would only be $49?

Just because FB3 was $250 and now the bundle is $299 does not mean that CFBuilder is only $49.

The idea of a bundle is that you get both products at a reduced cost.

How do you know that CFBuilder isn't $250 and they are throwing in Flash Builder 4 for $50?

Don't get me wrong, I would prefer they sell them separately as well. But I do also like the idea of spreading both Flex and CF around the other's communities.

Unknown said...

@Jason: The only difference is that they aren't offering CFB by itself for $249 :P

Likewise, I'm not complaining, it was just an unexpected move I thought!

Unknown said...

@Jason
Adobe is selling:
a) Flash Builder separately for $249 and it does not include CFB.
b) FB Premium Edition for $699 and it includes CFB

From this selling model all I can conclude is that they won't give away new FB4 for less then $249. So, what's left for CFB, $50. Right?

Jason Dean said...

And when McDonald's sells one apple pie for $.85 and two apple pies for $1.00 you could just ask them to give you the second apple pie for $.15 and they can keep the first one, right?

Is this concept of discount bundling really new to you?

Jason Dean said...

btw, where do you see that you can buy Flash Builder for $250 by itself?

Unknown said...

Adobe Flash Builder 4 Purchase options:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/buy/

Jason Dean said...

Ah, I see. I was looking at this page.

http://store4.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-US&event=displayProduct&categoryPath=/Applications/FlashBuilderPremium&distributionMethod=FULL

Regardless, this does not negate my point.

Simon said...

What gets me is that last year it was thrown around that the product might even be free. CFers were telling everyone how great CFbuilder was and that they should use it without even knowing what the cost might be. I wonder how those converters feel about the $300 price tag.

Unknown said...

@Simon
To be honest, I was never under impression that CFB will be free. But, I am disappointed that "good deal" is not based on price but bundling product.