Straker hot over ColdFusion rebuff

By RICHARD WOOD

Software developer Straker Interactive has attacked Industry New Zealand's reasons for rejecting its bid for a grant worth up to $100,000.

Straker managers are particularly miffed that one of the four reasons the Government agency gave for declining the application was its software uses ColdFusion development tools rather than Microsoft's new Visual Studio.Net.

Industry New Zealand said: "The ColdFusion back end is not the most popular development platform.

"The market is shrinking here, and more and more development work is being undertaken using Microsoft Visual Studio.Net.

"Cold Fusion is a more expensive development platform to work in, and customers can therefore expect to pay more for applications using this platform."

ColdFusion is marketed by international company Macromedia.

Its Australia and New Zealand/ territory manager, John Treloar, said the market was not shrinking and he cited major users of the product including Air New Zealand and the Auckland City Council.

"The sites that run our products are still there, they're upgrading, they're extending."

Treloar said ColdFusion had 50 per cent market share among the most successful websites in the world.

Straker general manager Merryn Goble is angry that Industry NZ has now asked Straker to come up with hard facts to counter the advice.

"They made statements about ColdFusion that are not founded, and put the onus on us to prove otherwise.

"I want some onus on Industry New Zealand to give us the qualifications of the people making these decisions. They are not backing it up with anything."

Industry New Zealand business development manager Julian Kroll defended the agency's statement.

Kroll said he had 12 years experience in the telecommunications industry and tried to take a balanced perspective.

"There are really two emerging standards, Java and Visual Studio.Net," he said.

"And one of the most compelling arguments about Visual Studio.Net is that Microsoft is an absolute machine at promoting and getting its technology platforms to the fore.

"Although ColdFusion still has a good hearing, my view is it's on the decline because it doesn't cater to as broad an audience as the Java and Visual Studio.Net platforms are doing now.

"Many of the companies I have dealt with personally and am talking to are saying they are redeveloping in Visual.Net technology because they want that inter-operability."

New Zealand Software Association president Rollo Gillespie said Industry New Zealand was right out of its depth trying to pick winners at that level.

Platform decisions were less significant than they once were.

Treloar said Industry New Zealand staff were being "Microsoft-centric".

ColdFusion was a "neutral path" product that could run on Unix, Solaris, Linux and Windows. Vision.Net ran only on Windows.

Goble said Straker's software worked in a Microsoft environment, as evidenced by its use at Southern Cross Healthcare, Turners & Growers and Fisher & Paykel, which ran it on Windows.

She said ColdFusion's latest version produced Java code.

Kroll said Microsoft.Net was quicker to develop in and costs were therefore lower.

There were also fewer integration issues when it was put into an existing system.

Treloar said ColdFusion was not a more expensive development platform, but was a rapid development language that reduced development hours and was quick to learn.

"They really don't have anything to back it up."

Kroll said Industry New Zealand had to make an interpretation based on its knowledge of the market.

"I don't take lightly any decision that I am party to, or assisting in. I do try to create balance and I have no bias either way."

The technical considerations were only one part of the decision, so Straker shouldn't feel aggrieved.

"It is not about one item in isolation, it is about a whole pile of things in context."

Straker managing director Grant Straker said another issue was the drawn-out process of applying for the grant, which began last October.

He said Industry NZ had not provided enough detail on what information was needed to assist the bid.

Straker wanted the grant to help it in the UK and in other export markets.