When Salesforce.com came up with Force.com, briefly I did nurture the illusion that they wanted to make the new platform for the web. Too bad it turned out to be a marketing gimmick to tap into a wider creative potential. Brilliant strategic move, but not what I had hoped it would become.
Force.com licenses are now paid and Salesforce is coming up with a financial software. Too bad its Chatter and related ideas didn't amount to much eventually. Nevertheless, as a company it has a good future. I only rue that it could have really worked on making Force a platform for the web. That, however, would have needed a paradigm shift in business strategy. So, in a way, the company has come back to its roots; not letting itself being deluded by grandiose ideas about social networking.
Paying for Force.com is like being sold Java and then being expected to pay for it (thank God that didn't happen!): doesn't feel good. Business, however, is not about feeling good: it is about profit. Perhaps that's why Oracle bought Sun while Salesforce continues its growth saga. On behalf of people who support open-source, I can only say: RIP, Force.com (hopefully)!
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