I was first introduced to ColdFusion almost three years ago when one of the programmers in SYS-CON's Web Services Department suggested we implement it in a few different places on one of our Web sites. As the department manager I said, "Sure, sounds good...By the way, what the heck is it?" For the first six months I regretted the "Sure" part immensely. I still knew almost nothing about the workings of ColdFusion or its potential; all I knew was that the programmer somehow managed to keep crashing our server and the Web site was down almost as much as it was up. Thankfully-for the Web site visitors and for me-ColdFusion and my knowledge of it have come a long way since then.

When this programmer left the company, I had to learn ColdFusion. I complained for all of five minutes until I realized what he knew all along - the dynamic possibilities offered by ColdFusion. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Looking back on the whole mess now, I'd like to think we've more than made up for our initial problems. Today, CFDJ's Web site - www.sys-con.com/coldfusion/ - runs on ColdFusion as do most of SYS-CON's Web sites.

Exciting improvements are on the way for CFDJ's Web site and print magazine. A couple of highlights include an upcoming online chat site with scheduled discussions and Q & A sessions led by CF experts; we also have plans to turn CFDJ into a monthly magazine starting in the first quarter of the upcoming year. That means twice as many issues per year, which I'm very excited about!

Speaking of exciting developments, I'm particularly excited about Allaire's upcoming release of Spectra, which promises to reduce development time and complexity by offering a set of core services for Web developers. I'm sure you'll agree that anything that speeds up the development process and shortens the time to deployment is bound to create a stir when it's ready for release. It can't come soon enough for me.

To whet your appetite, we've got several great articles in this issue about Spectra - what it is and what it can do for you. "Spectra: The New Application Standard" by Anthony Krinsky is a perfect place to start. He covers all of the features, functionality and possibilities that exist in the latest beta release. "Spectra and the Metadata Service" by Raymond Camden tells you about a feature I'm particularly excited about - content indexing. It's very powerful and extremely easy to use and the results are fantastic.

That's not all this issue has to offer, but for the rest - you'll just have to flip ahead. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

If you've got any questions, comments or suggestions about the magazine or the Web site, I'm always interested in hearing from you and greatly appreciate suggestions. I can be reached at rdiamond@sys-con.com. If you've got something to say, drop me a line. Here's to the future - it's going to be great!