Should CF become Free Open Source?

Adobe is open sourcing portions of the Flash Player. This lead to some theories about ColdFusion and Open Source.

Ben Forta made a response about how the current move should not be considered a roadmap for ColdFusion. Sean Corfield also discussed this a bit.

I don't have much response to Adam (or Ben or Sean) other than what I posted on Sean's blog. But, the posts did get me thinking. Should ColdFusion be made open source?

First off, I want to remind people that open source does not unnecessarily equate to free. And free does not necessarily mean open source.

If the underlying CF engine goes the open source route, I don't think it would affect me all that much. A few ColdFusion tags are written in CFML, such as cfdump, cfsavecontent, cftrace, and cfcache. I wouldn't mind seeing these open sourced. I think reviewing code written by the same folks who wrote the underlying engine would be a great learning tool. An entrepreneurial sort could probably review this code if they really wanted to, though. I wouldn't mind the opportunity to look at an unencrypted admin either.

(Note: If you use the default install, the encrypted files are probably in your "C:\CFusionMX7\wwwroot\WEB-INF\cftags" directory)

Back to the original question, should the underlying CF become open source? I find it hard to envision what I'd do with the source. I certainly wouldn't pay more for the source. Is the source going to help me extend the language? Probably not, CF is pretty extensible as it is. When most people think about open source, they also mean 'free'. So, should ColdFusion be free? If Adobe takes that route, I won't be complaining. I'm not sure the business sense in it, though.

However, If you look at the approach that Adobe has taken to some complimentary technologies such as Flex and Apollo., you might wonder if such tactics will be taken for ColdFusion.

For all intents and purposes, Flex is free. You can download the Flex SDK for free and write code in any editor of your choice. You compile it with a command line compiler (part of the Flex SDK) and can deploy Flex apps created in this manner without any cost. If you need Flex data services, there is a free version of that too.

With Flex Adobe makes money by selling an IDE (which is significantly better than just using the SDK), and by selling Flex servers that will support more than one application.

Apollo will also be free. Apollo is Adobe's "Engagement Platform" and will let you deploying web apps onto the desktop. Specifics on Apollo are unclear. I have no idea how free is free or what parts (if any) Adobe will be charging for. I assume there must be a business model in there somewhere.

Are Flex and Apollo viewed as experimental approaches by Adobe or are they proven as solid business models? I suspect that Adobe is doing pretty well with Flex, but don't have personal access to the numbers.

Will they consider this type of approach to ColdFusion, and eventually offer a free version? It was done before with CF Express. Many people say that it was too crippled to be useful. I've also heard it said that CF Express did not help spread the language. Is it worth revisiting the approach?

Perhaps Adobe should copy the Fled Data Services approach and offers a fully functional version of CF that will respond to only a single application? Or perhaps a single directory tree? It's hard to envision something that couldn't be easily circumvented.

Would this help spread CF to larger masses? I have no idea. I doubt a free version would impress Enterprise level folk. I don't know if a single app server version would win over PHP / Open Source free prophets.

What do you think?