New Atlanta will be creating and distributing a free open-source Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) version of BlueDragon, its ColdFusion-compatible web application server. It will be released under the popular GPL license, mirroring the licensing path chosen by MySQL and Java. BlueDragon has been around for nearly a decade now.

The creator of BlueDragon, Alan Williamson (pictured), is hopeful that the open source version will be ready in the summer of 2008.

"With nearly 10 years under its belt," Williamson says, "BlueDragon has a very large community behind it and we've proven ourselves powering very large scale websites. Now is the right time to bring this to a wider community."

" With BlueDragon OpenSource," Willamson continues, "you are now as free to use BlueDragon as you are MySQL. We won't expect a penny."

BlueDragon is a CFML runtime with native deployment and integration capabilities on both the Microsoft .NET and J2EE platforms. BlueDragon is also delivered as a standalone server for turnkey CFML Server and VAR/OEM deployments, providing built-in CFML functionality and processing that can be easily and fully incorporated within any product or solution.

"Personally I have been involved with open source projects for most of my software life," Williamson notes on his popular blog. "I have contributed many a patch to open source projects, headed up a couple, and created Java versions of others. I have also had the good fortune to work at the 'coal face' of open source logistics by spending a few years working at SpikeSource. Open source works best when there is a community ready to use and contribute to your project."

He continues:

"BlueDragon is coming to you as a stable, mature, proven technology. The blog in which you are reading this post on is powered by BlueDragon, and this isn't a single blog instance, but part of a much larger farm of machines powering thousands and thousands of blogs.

An open source BlueDragon, means you can now bet the farm on CFML. CFML is here to stay and for once in the whole history of CFML, the community will take a lead in the future direction of CFML as a language and platform."