A fairly big announcement related to the ColdFusion industry came out this week. No, not about a new version, or another service pack just yet, but a "personal news announcement" straight from the top. After eight years with Allaire, and then with Macromedia, Jeremy Allaire announced to the world via his blog, that he is leaving the company to pursue other projects - namely a Boston-area venture firm.

Recounting the progress that ColdFusion has made in recent times, he wrote in his blog this week, "ColdFusion has been transformed and given new life, becoming a standards-based platform, adding powerful tools for XML, Web services, component, and rich Internet app development. ColdFusion MX continues to innovate in making building Web applications easier and enjoyable." Well said if you ask me...

He's not done with Macromedia, as he writes, "I'll have a role as a Founder Emeritus of Macromedia, keeping active with Macromedia's customer community, periodically writing and speaking on Macromedia's behalf, and also staying in touch with Macromedia management and helping great products like Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, and ColdFusion keep up with the times."

Those of us who have had the pleasure of hearing Jeremy speak many times, are happy to know that he won't be cutting out those engagements.

Reaction to his announcement has resulted in a lot of mixed feedback throughout the Internet. What's been written has been a mixture of best wishes, and accusations of selling out and then deserting the community that he has helped build up. Personally, I don't take his message as being any sort of desertion toward any of us; and I feel that he's left the world of ColdFusion in some very capable hands as long as Macromedia continues to give CF the support that it has. I'd like to see us all programming in CFML for years to come!

CFDJ wishes Jeremy the best of luck with his next project. We've got no doubt that he'll stay in touch and, if what he's doing is i-technology related, it'll fit into this, or one of SYS-CON's other magazines.

Back to the business at hand, CFDJ March is as packed as ever with some great articles. I'll mention just a few highlights instead of the complete rundown this month. Kevin Towes has contributed a fantastic piece about using the Flash Communication Server, Flash Remoting, and ColdFusion MX. I haven't had the occasion to try out Flash Remoting yet, but when I do, this article will be right by my side.

Simon Horwith's Tales from the List column (note to members of the CFDJList, you'll all be pleased that we've upgraded to better, faster, and more stable list management software. Those not on the list - go sign up!) talks about some of the woes involving with Caching XML.

Phil Cruz reviews CFMX Exam Buster from CentraSoft, a testing tool geared to help developers with the Developer Certification Exam. Vlad Friedman has written a helpful piece on ColdFusion Server recovery, which we've all had to deal with at one point or another (some more than others). Rob Brooks-Bilson has interviewed Jason Egan of CFDynamics about their hosting form… a good read for those looking at selecting a host. We'll be profiling other companies as well in the coming months.

Charlie Arehart one of our illustrious co-technical editors writes this month about Flash for CFers in, "Getting over the Hump." It's an article that manages to more than live up to its witty title!

Last but not least, if you haven't nominated your products yet for the 2003 Readers' Choice Awards - get to it at www.sys-con.com/coldfusion !