I was very interested to read today about the ‘Adobe Dreamweaver Developer Toolbox’ today, and how this is in effect a replacement of all of the tools provided by InterAKT’s MX Kollection. Looking through the FAQ’s, it seems to me that this is a very poor deal for purchasers of the MX Kollection, who, in previous Dreamweaver releases were able to enjoy continued functionality with their purchase.

Of course, now that InterAKT have been bought by Adobe themselves, the focus has now shifted, and if you want to continue working with your old sites in Dreamweaver CS3, then you have to buy the toolbox. What a ripoff. What’s more, is that the FAQ’s now state that you can’t use the toolbox to work with the PHP_ADODB that InterAKT Championed.

The brings me back to a series of very public arguments between myself and Alexandru COSTIN, proprietor of InterAKT, when Dreamweaver MX first hit the shelves. Those of you who know my background, that pre-DMX I worked extensively alongside InterAKT, teaching them ways of working with the Extensibility Layer and developing core components for them. (Granted this was a two-sided field of learning, and I too learnt alot from these talented guys), but elements such as Server Formats wouldn’t have worked for a long long time, had I not rewritten the implementation, and implemented the now oft copied extensive list of formatted outputs, that some developers believe they can repackage and call their own, when all they’ve really done is taken my work and put it in an extension.

When Dreamweaver MX was released, with it’s own PHP Server Model, I went on record as stating that having 2 PHP Server Models was daft (I still think it is), and that ultimately InterAKT should drop the non-native in support of the native. My arguments were derised, and Alexandru made a number of very public, very loud threats towards me.

Granted, over time, their business model has worked for them (after all they have been aquired by Adobe), but ultimately my argument has won over. PHP_ADODB is dead. It served a great purpose while there was no PHP Server Model, but it’s days were numbered the moment a native one was released.

So what’s the point of this post? Well, not much really, to say that I feel vindicated. It’s also interesting that all of the arguments raised by Alexandru to keep the PHP_ADODB Server Model, supporting InterAKT’s existing customers being the foremost I believe, have now turned to dust, as the moment that they’ve been aquired by Adobe, they’ve given all the customers and developers (who supported InterAKT and put them where they are today) the proverbial punch in the nose.

Don’t believe me? Well, take a look at the original conversation between Alexandru and Myself here and here, and judge for yourself.

Edit: It appears that if you use the PHP/MySQL Server Model in Dreamweaver, then there is a light at the end of the tunnel. According to this thread on the InterAKT forums, there are complimentary upgrades being offered.

So, if you have been a previous customer of either the MX Kollection or MX Kollection Pro, then there is some hope… unfortunately no luck if you bought only one of the bundled items though….