That's a question that crops up over and over again. I've blogged about it in the past. My answer - as I'm sure most folks would expect - is "it depends". The question came up on a mailing list again the other day and someone jumped in full of praise for ColdBox and then someone else said "Sean would say it depends" and went on to plug cf.Objective() as the "perfect place" to answer the question, wishing they could be there.

Subject to change but since other folks have started to publish their schedules, here is my schedule for cf.Objective() 2008 as a Flash Paper document!

This year's cf.Objective() has a lot of firsts. If you're not attending, you're going to miss out on a lot of world premier events! We've worked hard to make cf.Objective() 2008 a "must see" event. We have a number of firsts this year that we're very proud of: The public release of Open BlueDragon on May 3rd! The public unveiling - and Alpha - of Model-Glue 3: Gesture! The public unveiling of Mate, the new Flex framework from AsFusion!

Adobe has conducted surveys on ColdFusion IDEs in the past but, for obvious reasons, hasn't posted the results. Now Jim Priest has created an 'Open' CFML IDE survey. Encourage every CFer you know to take the survey!

Following my tradition that conferences are only real once my flights are booked, both Scotch and CFUNITED just became reality for me. $3,800. Ouch! That's return flights for me and my wife for SFO/LHR and SFO/DCA. With cfDevCon later in the year, plus several more cat show flights to book, at least we'll both be Premier flyers on United next year! See you at cf.Objective() in early May? Or Scotch in early June? Or CFUNITED later in June?

You may not realize it but your public CFC methods are available via Flex Remoting. Adobe have just released a hot fix for ColdFusion 8.0.0 and a hot fix for ColdFusion 8.0.1 to address this problem. Read the Tech Note about the hot fix for more details.

Alan Williamson introduces the members of the Open BlueDragon Steering Committee in a post today that includes quotes from each committee member about their hopes for the project.

After some discussion, Ron West's session in the RIA track has reverted to its earlier title and description: Implementing User Interface: Improve Your Chances. Please read the updated session description (at that link) and, if necessary, update your online scheduler choices. I'll be doing a "session focus" on Ron's topic shortly.

Charlie Arehart - Hidden Gems in the ColdFusion 8 Server Monitor If you have used the ColdFusion 8 Server Monitor at all, you probably think it's a pretty useful tool. Charlie Arehart has used the Server Monitor a lot and he wants to share his experience and knowledge by showing you hints and tips to get the most out of the monitor. He covers general use of the monitor in development as well as what you can and cannot reasonably do with the monitor on production systems.

John Mason - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Whilst a presentation about an e-commerce security standard might sound very dull, the reality is that this is probably one of the most important topics on the cf.Objective() schedule. "Any company processes, stores or transmits credit card numbers is required to be PCI DSS compliant." John Mason explains the scope of PCI DSS, where you fall within its levels and what is required of you - and how expensive non-compliance can be!