When Robert Diamond asked me to take over his duties as editor-in-chief of ColdFusion Developer's Journal, my initial reaction was shock. Not so much because he'd asked me to do the job, but because his editorial would not be the first thing I'd see the next time I open a copy of CFDJ. He's been the editor-in-chief for as long as I can remember... and a damn good one at that.

I asked Rob why he was handing over the reins, and his response was that he wanted to shift his focus towards other things at SYS-CON and that he thought it'd be good to jump-start the magazine and give it a kick in the pants. I don't want to think of it as "out with the old..." but rather simply "... in with the new." Those of you who know me know that I'm currently living in London so perhaps a more appropriate title for this editorial would be (in the words of Monty Python) "and now for something completely different...". That said, I will do my best to meet your and Rob's expectations, and fill the void that he leaves behind.

At the time of this writing, Macromedia has released one new product (Flash Lite) and two new versions of products (Contribute 3 and Flash 7.2) all within the last three weeks. They also have a new product launch and an updater to an existing product slated for release in the near future (due to NDA I can't say anything more than that). Blackstone, the next version of ColdFusion, is supposedly going to be released somewhere between the end of Q4 this year and Q1 next year - one can only assume a JRun version or updater will also be released. Although no release date has been formally announced, it's also safe to assume that we'll most likely see the official release of FlashCast in the very near future as well.

Who knows what other new products and product versions might be released before the year is through? I mention all of this because I'm excited about the new products that Macromedia has released and I'm even more excited about the impending releases.

Blackstone, in particular, looks very promising. With more and more new products on the market, many developers are finding it difficult to keep up. Many of the new products are not only powerful in their own right, but can also be integrated with ColdFusion to offer CF developers something new and beneficial.

So what can ColdFusion developers do to keep up to date with the latest Macromedia offerings? Helping developers to overcome this challenge is one of the main services I believe this magazine can offer and I believe CFDJ needs to remain sensitive to this fact and reflect it in the articles it runs. Over the past year or two there has been a significant increase in the number of CFDJ articles that focus on Java/J2EE integration with CFML applications. My hope is that we can continue this trend to not only include Java integration but integration of ColdFusion with other Macromedia products as well; this, of course, while maintaining the commitment that CFDJ has always had to offering expert advice on "pure" CFML development topics.

In addition to integration with other technologies/solutions, I have also been considering several other column and article ideas that will present readers with information that's been scarce (or lacking) in the community. This includes giving a voice to the User Groups and possibly even to Macromedia itself in a more official capacity. If and how this happens remains to be seen, as do many other possible content offering and format evolutions. The best news of all though is that I'm open to any and all suggestions. If you have article or column ideas for the magazine, please don't hesitate to send them my way (simon@horwith.com).