Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Macromedia sells Homesite back to Bradsoft
If the new look corporate Macromedia of this millenium is all about profitability it seems crazy that they don't do something with Homesite. It's a complaint that's been echoing around the traps for some time now. Either re-channel the product for development and sales or give it to someone who will take care of it.
Firstly, lets put a few things straight and eke out some truth behind Homesite as a product:
- Homesite 5.5 is listed as an individual product at Macromedia; it doesn't have to be purchased with DWMX contrary to popular belief
- it costs $99 bucks (and even less for a relevant upgrade $29) and can only be bought online through Macromedia
- Homesite+ is a slightly different product and is essentially an Adobe/Macromedia stoush, throwback from what's left of CF Studio (it is only bundled with DWMX)
Ok. So Homesite is written in Delphi -- the rest of the tools are not. Clearly there has been some ongoing development of Homesite with the advent of the new macro recorder and other subtle innovations (too subtle for me to think of right now :) Just keep that dev-team ticking over -- hell, outsource the work to Australia if you have to.
Given the enduring enthusiasm for Homesite (recently in Blog in Black threa, Architects View thread, and others) it seems madness not to pander to existing CF Studio junkies and actually sell an upgrade. And I don't mean just stick a SKU in the shop.
Perhaps the whole revenue opportunity is so small it doesn't warrant attention in the upper halls of the mothership -- but it couldn't possibly be loss making.
There are truck-loads of mug punters out here just begging to give Macromedia money to upgrade to a brighter, shinier version of the quirky product we love and adore. For old times sake, just throw us a bone:
- Halve the price (if products as elegant as TopStyle sell for $30US, $99 is not the right price break)
- Merge Homesite+ and Homesite into the one release
- Sell it only electronically (already in place)
- Keep the documentation up to date (tag VTM support for CFMX is still not complete)
Oh, there be at least some gold nuggets in dem thar hills...
Posted by modius at 05:36 PM | Permalink
Trackback: http://blog.daemon.com.au/cgi-bin/dmblog/mt-tb.cgi/166
For a moment I thought that Macromedia actually *did* sell HS back to Bradsoft. Wishfull thinking eh?
Posted by: ErikG on September 17, 2003 06:38 PM
Just a bit of errata :)
Homesite+ used to sell for around $499 as ColdFusion Studio. This product is the one that is not available as a seperate product. The confusion is in the naming.
You can get the current version of Homesite standalone.
You cannot get the current version of ColdFusion Studio (HomeSite+) standalone.
However, for $100 less than ColdFusion Studio's pricing when it was standalone, you can get the current ColdFusion Studio version by purchasing Dreamweaver MX, which includes HomeSite+ for $399.
Posted by: Calvin on September 17, 2003 07:30 PM
$99 for homesite was a reasonable price. If they continued to upgrade it and sell it standalone, I'd pay $199 for it. But as a $400+ product (CF Studio), it is obviously out of reach for independent developers, and competing with MM's own Dreamweaver.
Selling Homesite back to Bradsoft would be the best thing to ever happen to it, and the hand-coding development community.
Posted by: dgibson on September 17, 2003 10:07 PM
Bugga Geoff!
I thought for a minute MM did offload it to Bradsoft. I for one miss my CFSTUDIO and I would happily part with my hard earnt cash for future versions.
Sorry, I've really given Dreamweaver a fighting chance and I just kept going "yeah but CFSTUDIO did xyz"
Good post though, well written and it must be a comfort to know that if Daemon ever goes bust, and you aren't able to code cfmx nemore you could be a journo ;)
Posted by: Scott Barnes on September 17, 2003 10:09 PM
How about Macromedia buying Bradsoft so that they are finally able to develop decent, unbloated and plain functional tool software? ;-) (I'm only talking about DWMX here...)
Posted by: Philipp Cielen on September 17, 2003 10:32 PM
I was fooled by the headline too. Looking at it in a feed reader, ya know, where I read only the headline and I was all psyched about it, clicked the link... Good entry and all, I just wanted to get the coolest scoop in the office.
The new TopStyle is wonderful and the UI looks a lot nicer than HomeSite+. Oh well. Nick seems to be keeping himself plenty busy with TopStyle and FeedDemon though.
Posted by: Dennis Spaag on September 17, 2003 11:31 PM
Headline fooled me too! Shame on you for getting our hopes up...
Posted by: David Schmidt on September 17, 2003 11:34 PM
Headline fooled me too! Shame on you for getting our hopes up...
Posted by: David Schmidt on September 17, 2003 11:35 PM
When that headline showed up in FeedDemon this morning, it woke me up a hell of a faster than my morning coffee did :)
Posted by: Nick Bradbury on September 18, 2003 05:39 AM
LOL @ Nick, No kidding! It woke me up too. I think Geoff intentionally made the headline like that to stir a bee's nest.
Posted by: Todd on September 18, 2003 07:51 AM
That's the top headline of the year ;)
Posted by: Kai on September 18, 2003 06:41 PM
They couldn't sell HS back to Bradsoft, their DWMX sales would plumet. HS+ is the only reason we buy DWMX.
Posted by: Barry Moore on September 19, 2003 09:02 AM
For a moment I thought that Macromedia actually *did* sell HS back to Bradsoft. Wishfull thinking eh?
Posted by: ErikG on September 17, 2003 06:38 PM
Just a bit of errata :)
Homesite+ used to sell for around $499 as ColdFusion Studio. This product is the one that is not available as a seperate product. The confusion is in the naming.
You can get the current version of Homesite standalone.
You cannot get the current version of ColdFusion Studio (HomeSite+) standalone.
However, for $100 less than ColdFusion Studio's pricing when it was standalone, you can get the current ColdFusion Studio version by purchasing Dreamweaver MX, which includes HomeSite+ for $399.
Posted by: Calvin on September 17, 2003 07:30 PM
$99 for homesite was a reasonable price. If they continued to upgrade it and sell it standalone, I'd pay $199 for it. But as a $400+ product (CF Studio), it is obviously out of reach for independent developers, and competing with MM's own Dreamweaver.
Selling Homesite back to Bradsoft would be the best thing to ever happen to it, and the hand-coding development community.
Posted by: dgibson on September 17, 2003 10:07 PM
Bugga Geoff!
I thought for a minute MM did offload it to Bradsoft. I for one miss my CFSTUDIO and I would happily part with my hard earnt cash for future versions.
Sorry, I've really given Dreamweaver a fighting chance and I just kept going "yeah but CFSTUDIO did xyz"
Good post though, well written and it must be a comfort to know that if Daemon ever goes bust, and you aren't able to code cfmx nemore you could be a journo ;)
Posted by: Scott Barnes on September 17, 2003 10:09 PM
How about Macromedia buying Bradsoft so that they are finally able to develop decent, unbloated and plain functional tool software? ;-) (I'm only talking about DWMX here...)
Posted by: Philipp Cielen on September 17, 2003 10:32 PM
I was fooled by the headline too. Looking at it in a feed reader, ya know, where I read only the headline and I was all psyched about it, clicked the link... Good entry and all, I just wanted to get the coolest scoop in the office.
The new TopStyle is wonderful and the UI looks a lot nicer than HomeSite+. Oh well. Nick seems to be keeping himself plenty busy with TopStyle and FeedDemon though.
Posted by: Dennis Spaag on September 17, 2003 11:31 PM
Headline fooled me too! Shame on you for getting our hopes up...
Posted by: David Schmidt on September 17, 2003 11:34 PM
Headline fooled me too! Shame on you for getting our hopes up...
Posted by: David Schmidt on September 17, 2003 11:35 PM
When that headline showed up in FeedDemon this morning, it woke me up a hell of a faster than my morning coffee did :)
Posted by: Nick Bradbury on September 18, 2003 05:39 AM
LOL @ Nick, No kidding! It woke me up too. I think Geoff intentionally made the headline like that to stir a bee's nest.
Posted by: Todd on September 18, 2003 07:51 AM
That's the top headline of the year ;)
Posted by: Kai on September 18, 2003 06:41 PM
They couldn't sell HS back to Bradsoft, their DWMX sales would plumet. HS+ is the only reason we buy DWMX.
Posted by: Barry Moore on September 19, 2003 09:02 AM