As a jaded computer user and developer, it's hard to excite me with a simple new release. As a magazine editor, with products and demos flying across my desk, it becomes even harder. I've seen many products and releases come and go over the past few years, and it's been a very interesting journey. I've seen what I thought were great products fail miserably and a few rather mediocre ones that are now widely adopted because they managed to fill a special niche.

It's rare that a product comes along that really excites me - that I'm playing with a new feature and my mind is going a mile a minute thinking of ways to use it - that my imagination just goes wild over the potential I think something has.

I'm happy to say that this is one of those rare occurrences. With that glowing introduction, welcome to the May issue of CFDJ, where we start our ground-breaking official coverage of ColdFusion's next release. Actually, it doesn't feel quite right to refer to it simply as "ColdFusion's next release." Having participated in the beta program for a number of months, I've found it to be so much more. The hype we've been hearing for so many months has finally been lived up to, and the offhand phrase doesn't give Macromedia - and the very talented developers who created the new product - as much credit as they deserve. In fact, if you're a ColdFusion developer (and since you're reading CFDJ, I think it's safe to assume you are), it's going to be more than enough to knock your developer socks right off.

The normal life-cycle of a software product tends to be a year, with new releases/upgrades annually. For Macromedia, despite the release of ColdFusion 5, ColdFusion MX has been under construction for nearly two years. It therefore represents more than the natural evolution of the product, but rather ColdFusion Reborn, or the next (r)evolution of ColdFusion.

The Java platform...CF's now larger seat on the fast-moving Web services train... .NET support: it's got it all, and more. Macromedia has lit a fire under ColdFusion, and as the details about the product emerge, the Allaire/ Macromedia merger is finally living up to its promise. The move that some questioned when it first took place, not understanding what was taking place behind the scenes, is now proving itself. Much credit for the hard work and vision goes to Macromedia's leaders, like Kevin Lynch and CTO Jeremy Allaire, as well as to the now fully integrated product development teams.

Our cover story this month, by Ben Forta, explores some of CFMX's many new features. And we'll be going into greater depth in the subsequent issue once Macromedia has made the full product announcement.

The current issue doesn't just give you a nice look at CFMX, though; it's filled with a lot more. "Query Custom Tags in CF" by Reuben Poon, a new face here at CFDJ, offers tips on simplifying your code. "Using JSP Custom Tags" by Charlie Arehart lets you in on a good way to use one of the features in the new CF. Christian Schneider shows you how to build a WAP-based e-mail interface. Hal Helms writes about recursion, and Tom Muck reviews the Click Portal Server from Intrafinity, whose product helps companies operate. Part 2 of Philip Chalmers's article explains how to use CF to solve session management problems. Last, but certainly not least, CFDJList manager Simon Horwith writes about some of the issues of the day - this month, SQL Server 2000.